Congress has only a few legislative days left to act on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). We need to tell our legislators to do their job. We need you to act in these last few days.
For nearly two months, since the passage of a Senate version of VAWA and a House version of VAWA, Congress has done NOTHING to finish the job and get VAWA to the President to be signed. NOTHING.
We need you to do just two things in the following weeks: call your legislators and write letters to the editor, especially if you are in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin. We know we’ve asked you before, and we know you’re tired—but we have precious few legislative days left.
We need to let Congress know that everyone loses if VAWA isn’t finished—that all victims need the many improvements in this version of VAWA.
PHONE SCRIPT FOR YOUR LEGISLATOR
We need you to do your job and pass VAWA. If you don’t, ALL victims of violence will lose critical protections, including:
- Protections for victims of dating and sexual violence at colleges and universities, who often lack access to the justice system simply because these crimes occur on campus.
- Housing protections for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
- Helpful expansions from both the Senate and the House bills that would provide crucial new protections for victims of sexual violence.
- Valuable new prevention programs that can reduce the likelihood of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking from occurring in the future.
- Many victims, including Native women, immigrants, LGBT people and communities of color, would go without life-saving protection from violence.
This is unacceptable. You must pass VAWA before the recess.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor:Congress is failing victims of violence. They have done nothing to pass the Violence Against Women Act in the past two months. Without this critical law, victims of violence will lose life-saving protections, including services for dating and sexual violence victims on college campuses, housing protections, protections for victims of sexual violence and prevention programs. We cannot stand for a Congress that refuses to protect victims of violence. It’s simply unacceptable. Congress must act now and pass a law that protects all victims of violence.
