WASHINGTON, D.C. – Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today announced the fiscal year 2009 CJS spending bill includes $415 million for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Violence Against Women Office, a $135 million increase above President Bush’s request. This funding will support programs authorized through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which Senator Mikulski helped pass into law. The spending bill provides a total of $25.8 billion for the DOJ, a $2.7 billion increase above the President’s budget request.

“When we fought for the Violence Against Women Act, it was not an unfunded mandate. I led the fight to put these programs in the federal law books, and I will continue to fight to put the funding they need in the federal checkbook,” said Chairwoman Mikulski. “I have absolutely no tolerance for domestic violence. That’s why I strongly support legislation and grant programs that help protect women and their families from continued violence and abuse.”

Domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking are crimes of epidemic proportions, exacting terrible costs on individual lives and our communities. Nearly 25 percent of U.S. women report that they have been physically assaulted by an intimate partner during their lifetimes, 1 in 6 have been the victims of attempted or completed rape, and the cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $5.8 billion each year.

The CJS spending bill funds multiple competitive grant programs that support: training for police officers and prosecutors, state domestic violence and sexual assault coalition grants, rape prevention programs, national domestic violence hotlines, grants for battered women’s shelters, victims of child abuse grants and funding for counselors of rape victims during trials.

President Bush’s budget request not only decreased funding, but it also proposed eliminating the congressionally authorized grant programs, leaving all discretion instead to the U.S. Attorney General. Chairwoman Mikulski rejected this change, as she did when the tactic was proposed last year.

“Congress clearly intended for the DOJ to allocate specific monies for specific grant programs for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The President’s proposal flies in the face of the 2005 VAWA reauthorization that clarified this process,” said Chairwoman Mikulski. “President Bush talks about creating a better life for Americans, but his budget fails to deliver on his words.”

The spending bill passed the full Appropriations Committee this afternoon. In the next step of the appropriations process, the bill will move to the Senate floor for a vote, which has not yet been scheduled. For more information on the CJS spending bill, go to: http://mikulski.senate.gov/Newsroom/PressReleases.