Members of Congress and their staff are meeting *this week* to work out a final plan for this year's Congressional budget. Current budget proposals include cuts to VAWA programs. Members of Congress must hear that cuts are unacceptable and that services for victims of domestic violence need funding now more than ever!!

What can you do?

Call your Members of Congress this week and tell them there are 5 easy things they can do to help battered women in the FY '05 Congressional Budget:

1. Help battered women's shelters and children who witness domestic violence by funding the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act at $150 million.
   
2. Provide core services for victims of domestic and sexual violence by raising the cap on the Victims of Crime Act Fund to $650 million.
   
3. Fund the work of police, prosecutors, judges, and victims services by restoring funding to Grants to Combat Violence Against Women to $185 million.
   
4. Help end the cycle of violence by giving Transitional Housing its own $15 million line item in the budget, as was done in FY '04.
   
5. Give families the opportunity to escape abuse and rebuild stable, self-sufficient lives by fully funding the Section 8 voucher program and returning to a cost-based voucher formula.

To find contact information for your Senators and Representatives, visit www.house.gov & www.senate.gov.

Your calls are essential in convincing Members of Congress that they must act now to help victims of domestic violence! This week we have a great opportunity to support funding for shelters, services and housing - please take this moment to act.

If you get feedback from Congressional offices, please let us know!

What is the background?
Congress recessed in October without finishing most of their spending bills. As you know, there are differences between the House and Senate bills on VAWA and VOCA. Also critical for victims of domestic violence are their differences on the Section 8 "housing choice" voucher program.

Nearly every VAWA program would receive slightly more funding in the Senate bills than the House bills. The House bills appropriate a total of $561.7 million for VAWA programs, while the Senate bills appropriate $593 million.

In CJS, which funds VAWA programs administered by DOJ:

• The House bill would increase Grants to Combat Violence Against Women to $176.8 and the Senate bill would increase them to $175.7. Neither bill would fully restore the $16.5 million cut that was made to these grants in the FY '04 Congressional Budget. In fact, because of the earmark mentioned below, these funding levels will actually mean cuts of $6.5 to $2.4 million to STOP grants!
  
• Both bills would place transitional housing as an earmark out of Grants to Combat Violence Against Women, leaving less funding available for STOP grants and resulting in cuts to the STOP grant program. The House bill would provide $15 million for transitional housing and the Senate bill would provide only $10 million, a cut of $5 million from FY '04. However, because it would be a smaller line-item, more funding would be available for STOP grants in the Senate bill.
  
• The House bill would increase the Victims of Crime Act Fund (VOCA) cap to $650, while the Senate bill would leave the cap at $625.

In LHHS, which funds VAWA programs administered by HHS:

• Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) funding for battered women's shelters and services would remain roughly level in the House bill at $125.6 and be increased to $128 million in the Senate.
  
• The Hotline would receive $3 million in the House and $3.5 million in the Senate.
  
• Rape Prevention and Education would remain level at $43.6 million in the House be increased to $45.6 million in the Senate.
  
• The CDC Community Initiatives that fund the DELTA projects would remain at $5.8 million in the House and Senate.

In VA/HUD, which funds Housing and Urban Development programs like Section 8:

The Senate included $700 million more than the House had requested for Section 8. The Senate bill would fully fund all existing Section 8 vouchers. However, both bills include a change in the way that funding for vouchers is distributed to local communities. This change, from an "actual cost" to a "formula based" distribution means that even if adequate funding is provided for the Section 8 program, Public Housing Authorities across the country will not receive the funds they need to provide Section 8 vouchers and may have to deny vouchers to families in need, raise rents paid by voucher holders, or even revoke existing vouchers, leaving families with no housing subsidy at all.

There is an updated chart and fact sheet available upon request