WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden announced a suite of grants and initiatives to help combat domestic abuse and support survivors of gender-based violence on Thursday as the White House marked the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act.
“Wasn’t too long ago, we in the country didn’t want to talk about violence against women as a national epidemic, let alone do something. Society often looked away,” Biden told survivors and advocates gathered on the White House’s South Lawn.
The Biden administration’s initiatives include a resource center run by the Department of Justice to help law enforcement, attorneys and victims service organizations respond to cyber crimes including non-consensual or revenge porn and online stalking, the White House said.
The Department of Justice will also expand technical assistance for local law enforcement to remove firearms from domestic abusers, and it announced more than $690 million in fiscal year 2024 grant funding for programs to help communities address gender-based violence.
Klein said the administration would also establish an office of gender-based violence through the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help meet domestic violence survivors’ housing and economic needs.
Biden helped craft the 1994 legislation, which criminalized physical abuse against women at the federal level and provided government funding for victim services, advocate training, shelters and prevention education.
The law expired under President Donald Trump in 2019. Biden signed a spending bill that renewed the legislation in 2022. — Reuters
Be the first to comment