Jerry Nadler: “I rise today to discuss a silent, yet deadly, epidemic facing the country: domestic violence. Every 9 seconds a woman is…”

“I rise today to discuss a silent, yet deadly, epidemic facing the country: domestic violence. Every 9 seconds a woman is battered in the United States. In 2001, 80,000 women and children in New York State alone requested help from domestic violence programs, and these were only the documented cases. Many more cases go unmentioned as women, fearing to come forward, leave the assaults unreported. The most common form of domestic abuse is physical; but many men abuse their wives and partners emotionally, sexually, and economically; and women are not the only victims. Between 3.3 and 10 million children annually witness the abuse that occurs between their parents, and so the domestic violence cycle is passed on from generation to generation. For many years domestic violence has been viewed as a woman's problem, but that is not the case. Domestic violence is a woman's problem, a man's problem, the community's problem. The time is long overdue for men to take a stand and say that domestic violence is unacceptable. We must have full funding for the Violence Against Women Act to protect women who are victims. The President has said so, but his 2004 budget proposes a $19 million cut in funding for domestic violence. We demand full funding for the Violence Against Women Act.”