Lynn Jenkins: “I thank the gentlelady for yielding. The Violence Against Women Act is an important tool for preventing domestic…”

“I thank the gentlelady for yielding. The Violence Against Women Act is an important tool for preventing domestic violence and sexual assault and for supporting the victims of these crimes. There is broad bipartisan agreement that this essential legislation must be renewed. While the House bill protects the victims of domestic violence and improves services and education to prevent and address these crimes on college campuses, our legislation also goes beyond the Senate bill by ensuring that taxpayer resources help victims--not Washington bureaucrats--by limiting administrative expenses, requiring annual audits and combating fraud. While the House legislation takes enormous strides in protecting the victims of these truly horrific crimes, the legislation also takes great care to ensure the funds allocated by this bill are treated with the responsibility and care the victims and taxpayers deserve: H.R. 4970 requires VAWA audits be performed by the Department of Justice and that the Attorney General improves the coordination between the grant-making offices to reduce duplication and overlap in funding. H.R. 4970 prohibits the award of grant funds to nonprofit organizations that hold money in offshore accounts in order to avoid paying their Federal taxes, and it limits the use of funds for salaries and administrative expenses to 5 percent of funds authorized under the act.…”