We expect the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021 (H.R. 1620) to be voted on tomorrow, March 17, on the floor next week for a vote in the United States House of Representatives.
As VAWA moves to the floor, we need to have support for its swift passage. Please call and email your U.S. House of Representatives and urge them to support H.R. 1620, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021.
Action
Call your REPRESENTATIVE now and urge them to SUPPORT H.R.1620! You can find your Representative here.
You can also email your REPRESENTATIVE using JWI’s easy two-click automated system, and ask them to vote YES when VAWA comes to the floor.
Sample script
Hello, my name is [INSERT NAME] and I am a constituent. I am calling to urge Representative [INSERT NAME] to support H.R. 1620, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021. H.R. 1620 will improve our nation’s response to domestic and sexual violence.
Background from the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence
On March 8th, 2021, a bipartisan bill to renew and improve VAWA was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Hon. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1), and Hon. Jerrold Nadler (NY-10). The bill builds upon H.R.1585, which passed in the House of Representatives with bipartisan support in 2019.
H.R. 1620, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021, reflects the input and many of the priorities of the domestic violence and sexual assault movement. The bill addresses many of the complex realities of survivors’ lives. It maintains established protections, while also addressing persistent gaps. In particular, ICADV supports:
• avenues to justice that focus on victim autonomy, agency, and safety, including restorative justice practices, investments in responses beyond a criminal system approach, and expanded access to VAWA-funded legal services for survivors;
• housing protections that allow survivors in federally-assisted housing to relocate to new, safe housing with victim relocation vouchers; maintain housing after a perpetrator leaves; or terminates a lease early;
• restoration of tribal jurisdiction that allows tribes to hold non-native perpetrators of sexual assault, stalking, child abuse, elder abuse, assault against law enforcement officers, and trafficking accountable when they commit crimes on native lands;
• investment in prevention via the Rape Prevention and Education Program and VAWA Department of Justice prevention programs;
• closure of dangerous legal loopholes in existing federal domestic violence-related firearms laws that will help reduce domestic violence and dating violence homicides;
• economic justice responses that help survivors access unemployment insurance and help to clarify what constitutes economic abuse; and • VAWA non-discrimination requirements to guarantee equal access to VAWA protections for all survivors regardless of gender.
