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.


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