WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten and a bipartisan group of Senators wrote to Senate appropriators urging them to include $565 million for domestic and sexual abuse programs and $156 million in funding for domestic and sexual abuse programs on tribal communities in the next coronavirus legislation.
“Domestic and sexual abuse survivors in Arizona and across the country need our full support in the face of a public health crisis requiring Americans to stay in their homes,” said Sinema.
In recent days, reports released by both the World Health Organization and the United Nations have indicated that reports of domestic violence and sexual abuse are surging globally. In the U.S., domestic violence resource organizations have reported higher than normal call volume, and they predict that as shelter-in-place orders stay in place for longer, the risk will only increase. At the same time, many domestic violence support organizations have seen reduced donations.
The CARES Act took a first step by providing additional funding for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, but it did not include funding for any domestic violence prevention programs at the Department of Justice or Department of Health and Human Services, or grantees who receive funding from Violence Against Women Act, the Child Abuse, Prevention, and Treatment Act, or the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act programs. Sinema is urging that the next coronavirus funding package acknowledge the risk that many Americans at risk of sexual assault or domestic violence face, and make investments to allow on-the-ground organizations offer more virtual services, provide additional housing resources for abuse survivors, and target resources at tribal communities, and other at-risk populations.
