Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise to thank the chairwoman and committee for including my amendment to increase funding by $1 million for an Indian Health Service program combatting domestic violence in Native communities. I know the chairwoman understands this issue very well. Protecting women in Native communities was a big focus on the VAWA reauthorization that passed this chamber earlier this year. I want to make sure we provide the strong funding that will be needed to make those changes reality and protect Native women. This is one program that does that. The Indian Health Services Domestic Violence Prevention Program is a small program but it's having a big impact. The DVPP was established in 2015 as a nationally-coordinated program that provides culturally appropriate domestic violence and sexual assault prevention and intervention resources to American Indian and Alaskan Native communities with a focus on trauma informed services. The vast majority of DVPP grants focus on domestic and sexual violence prevention, advocacy, and coordinated community responses, with some supporting forensic healthcare services to victims of domestic and sexual violence. I appreciate the effort made by the subcommittee in the bill to add funding to bring funding for this program back to the FY 2017 funding level. Thank you for recognizing the need and prioritizing a response. But I think we must do better especially when you consider the staggering need here.…”