FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AG FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1995 (202) 616-0189 TDD (202) 514-1888 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE SAVED FROM BUDGET AX RENO AND SHALALA LAUD HOUSE COMMITTEE ACTION WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Attorney General Janet Reno and Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala expressed their pleasure that the House Appropriations Committee last night reversed course and canceled plans to defund the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The reversal came after both cabinet secretaries protested last week's decision to defund the Hotline. The two secretaries and Education Secretary Richard Riley also urged House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston to reinstate the Hotline funds. The Committee's Subcommittee on Labor-HHS voted last week to eliminate $1 million for the hotline, passed last year as part of the crime bill's Violence Against Women Act. "We are delighted that the Committee has reversed course and voted to save the hotline, which is one of the crime bill's most promising initiatives for fighting the abuse faced by millions of women," the two Secretaries said in a joint statement. More than one million women are victims of domestic violence every year, and the toll-free, 24-hour hotline -- which a bipartisan majority passed as part of last year's crime bill -- will offer crisis counseling, problem-solving techniques, and referrals for battered women, their families, and advocates. "At a cost of less than one fourth a penny per American, this hotline is a bargain, not a luxury," they added. "It is a model of how a reinvented government can help millions of battered women to prevent further abuse and to start reconstructing their lives." "Unfortunately, yesterday's decision is one of the few silver linings on a bad day. The remainder of the rescissions target the most vulnerable in our society." The letter to representative Livingston also called on Congress to restore crime bill programs designed to fight drug addiction by funding drug courts, provide alternatives for at-risk youth, and coordinate crime prevention programs. Labor-HHS Subcommittee Chairman John Porter and House Speaker Newt Gingrich co-sponsored the crime bill's Violence Against Women Act bill last year. The domestic hotline provision is part of the Violence Against Women Act. ### 95-121