Renee L. Ellmers: “Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank my colleague and friend from New York and to point out the fact that, over…”

“Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank my colleague and friend from New York and to point out the fact that, over the years, she has just been a tireless, dedicated supporter of women's issues, family issues, and of giving her voluntary support of legal services to facilities that provide domestic violence havens in New York. She is a strong advocate for the White Ribbon Campaign, and I am proud to stand with her today in support of ending violence against women. We show our support today by wearing these white ribbons that represent a pledge to never commit, condone, or to remain silent about violence against women and girls. So let's start this discussion by defining the different forms of violence against women. Domestic violence occurs when one person in an intimate relationship uses a pattern of controlling assaultive behavior to abuse, threaten, harass, and intimidate the other partner. This violence comes in many forms. In its simplest terms, it is emotional abuse; name-calling; playing mind games; put-downs; threats--they can be physical or emotional--intimidation; using looks; smashing things; loud voices or actions to put you in fear of what might happen; isolation; controlling where you go, what you do, what you see; driving away friends and family; and of course sexual abuse and the use of children: making you feel guilty about the children, using custody or visitation to harass you.…”