Action Alert: Ask Your Senators to Support Strong and Sustained Funding for Domestic and Sexual Violence Services

What's Happening in Congress Right Now

Every year, Congress is supposed to pass a budget to fund the federal government and vital grant programs such as VAWA, FVPSA and VOCA.  Instead of passing a budget this year, Congress is contemplating passing a continuing resolution (CR), which funds the federal government at its current level for a short period.  

It is imperative that funding decisions are finalized to ensure survivors can continue to access life-saving services. A CR can create undue delay, confusion, and an interruption of essential services, putting survivors at serious risk.  An omnibus appropriations bill, which funds all federal programs for the upcoming fiscal year, ensures a steady funding stream and a continuation of vital services.

What You Can Do About It

Call Senate leadership and tell them to pass an omnibus bill!  Tell them:

  • An omnibus budget is vital to ensure victims and survivors’ safety and access to services;

  • Thousands of victims and survivors of gender-based violence are turned away from services daily due to lack of resources – a continuing resolution will only exacerbate this problem; and

  • The omnibus should include a VOCA tribal funding stream reflecting that in both House and Senate Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bills.

Tools and Resources

Find your Senators’ phone numbers here.

Sample telephone script: Hello, my name is [your name], and I am calling from [your city and/or organization].  I am calling to tell [your Senator’s name] that Congress needs to pass an omnibus appropriations bill to ensure victims and survivors of gender-based violence have access to essential, life-saving services.  The omnibus should include the tribal funding stream from VOCA that was in both the House and Senate Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bills.  An omnibus is essential for victims and survivors’ safety and wellbeing.

Find your Senators’ Twitter handles here:

Sample Tweet: .@YourSenatorsHandle, a CR puts victims and survivors of gender-based violence at risk. Pass an #omnibus! #EndVAW

Sample Facebook Post:  Congress needs to pass an omnibus appropriations bill to ensure victims and survivors of gender-based violence have access to essential, life-saving services.  The omnibus should include the tribal funding stream from VOCA that was in both the House and Senate Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bills to ensure all victims and survivors can access services and stay safe.

We Don’t Do This Work Because It’s Easy. We Do It Because We Must.

We don't do this work because it's easy.

It never has been, and as we’re all digesting the results of the election and its implications, we realize that the coming years will challenge us in ways that we have not been before as individuals, as communities, as service providers, as advocates, and as a movement to end sexual and domestic violence. That’s ok. We’ll get through it. We always have. 

We don’t do this work because it’s easy. And now more than ever, the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (NTF) is committed to ensuring that we center survivors of sexual and domestic violence and their needs in the policies we advocate for.  We are especially concerned that survivors of color, survivors who are immigrants, LGBTQ survivors, Native American survivors, survivors of faith, survivors with disabilities--all survivors who are vulnerable to the additional burdens of discrimination and lack of access--have the collective voice of the NTF amplifying their needs. We all need to stand together, and we will.

We realize that this may feel like a time of great uncertainty. It is. Take the time you need to reflect and care for yourself, those you serve, and those you work with. And then let’s transform that uncertainty into an opportunity to build.

We don’t do this work because it’s easy. We do it because we must. We hope you’ll join us. 

The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence.

Click here to download a copy of this statement.