Political Updates in the United States

+ Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act - PASSED

CARES Act Relief Payment information

• The CARES Act provides $2.2 trillion in economic assistance for American small businesses, workers and families through federal loans, loan forgiveness and tax incentives and relief. Additionally, the CARES Act includes $45 million in funding for domestic violence services and programs through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) which provide emergency housing and shelter to domestic violence survivors across the country. It also includes $2 million in funds for the National Domestic Violence Hotline to ensure critical, ongoing services to survivors that reach out for support, resources, and safety planning during this time of heightened risk due to the COVID-19 health crisis. The CARES act also prohibits eviction of people from federally-subsidized housing, increased funding for the Legal Services Corporation and allows nonprofits (such as domestic violence shelters) to access low-interest Small Business Administration loans.
  • The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act
  • National Domestic Violence Hotline

What Needs to be Changed

The CARES Act currently fails to meet the needs of survivors and does not include any sexual assault programming or VAWA-funded programs. Domestic violence organizations strongly urge Congress to ensure that the next stimulus package expand comprehensive support for programs that provide critical services to sexual violence and domestic violence survivors.

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) also calls for Congress to waive VAWA or VOCA match requirements, address the ongoing needs of survivors by ensuring the sustainability of the Crime Victims Fund and provide access to safe paid leave for survivors. They also call for Congress to provide funding for Culturally Specific and Outreach to Underserved grant programs, grants to support survivors with disabilities, and grants to support survivors of abuse in later life.

+ Demands for Future Legislation

• The House passed the Heroes Act, but it still needs to be passed by the Senate. This act expands access to paid sick leave and paid time off, ensures all immigrants have access to testing and stimulus direct payments, and invests in victim services as well as survivors.
• U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto led 22 of her colleagues in sending a letter to Senate leaders, asking that future legislation addressing the coronavirus pandemic also include resources to meet domestic and sexual violence survivors’ urgent housing needs. They want to increase the capacity of local programs to address these needs, as once the immediate health crisis subsides there will be many survivors needing to make plans to escape while facing continued economic strain. They ask that Senate include the following:

• $20 million in Violence Against Women (VAWA) housing vouchers: needed to help survivors who need a housing subsidy to escape violence. Vouchers will help survivors avoid homelessness and keep them from needing to go to an emergency shelter, which are working to reduce the number of residents to adhere to public health requirements.$

• 100 million in additional Domestic Violence Bonus Funds: provides funding for rapid re-housing, transitional housing, and survivor-centered supportive service projects that assist survivors in accessing lifesaving housing resources. Additional funds allocated through the DV Bonus should supplement existing grants and provide new grants to victim service providers to help survivors move quickly. Supplemental resources would also allow communities to provide subsidies to survivors who are facing job loss and other economic instability.
  • DV organizations are calling for the phase four COVID-19 response package:

• Include funding for grants for outreach to underserved communities
• Address the housing needs of survivors
• Meet the economic needs of survivors
• Address the long term impact on survivors by redirecting funds from deferred and non-prosecution agreements from the General Treasury to the Crime Victims Fund

• Temporarily waive match requirements for federal grants
• Ensure immigrants have access to health, safety, and stability, including access to testing and treatment, and restricting immigration enforcement
  • In March 2020, Senators Lisa Murkowski, Bob Casey and Amy Klobuchar sent a letter to Congress requesting that additional funding for programs which support victims of family violence, domestic violence and dating violence be included in the anticipated fourth COVID-19 legislative package, including:

• Funding for shelters and supports, resource centers and technical assistance to support victims of domestic violence, including an additional $100 million for programs funded by the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA);

• Funding to coordinate language-accessible public outreach to hard-to-reach populations, including $100 million for the CDCSet-aside assistance for Tribes and Tribal organizations
• Support for children with increases in emergency supplemental funding under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) to prevent child abuse and neglect
• Provisions to waive the matching requirements under FVPSA and under Title II of CAPTA so workers on the ground can swiftly respond to the needs of survivors during this public health crisis; and

• Additional funding of $100 million for the Sexual Assault Services Program.

+The Domestic Violence Public Health Emergency Guidance Act

Resources for Law Enforcement Responding to Domestic Violence

Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton introduced this bill requiring the Department of Justice to issue guidance to law enforcement agencies on best practices for addressing domestic violence and protecting the safety of survivors, children of survivors and law enforcement officers during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The guidance would include best practices on limiting exposure to COVID-19, assessing and addressing domestic violence threats during the pandemic, enforcing domestic violence protective orders and child custody orders, and more. An educational resource guide would also be created: focused on risk factors unique to COVID-19 that increases the chances of escalation and lethality in domestic violence, training and investigation tools for officers, vicarious trauma resources, and resources for survivors during COVID-19.

+ Title IX Revisions Made by the Department of Education

Key Revisions

• Title IX revisions have been released by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Under these new regulations, sexual harassment has been narrowly redefined as “unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature” or “unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that is so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive” that it denies a personal access to the school’s education. Schools must act if a formal complaint has been filed or if the school is aware of multiple reports being filed accusing the same person; however schools must dismiss off-campus complaints. As part of the response to a complaint, colleges and universities must provide due process to the victim and the one accused, including a live hearing with cross-examination. Schools can also require the plaintiff to prove that the sexual harassment occurred without little doubt (aka the “clear and convincing” standard) for the person accused to be charged.

What Needs to be Changed

• The stricter evidentiary standard for Title IX proceedings is not neutral; the looser standard previously used is more appropriate because penalties are lower in Title IX cases, compared to criminal cases (where the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard is used). That, along with the narrow definition of sexual harassment, make it harder to find schools legally responsible for failing to address harassment. Live cross-examination could re-traumatize victims and prevent them from reporting sexual misconduct.

+ Demands for Future Legislation

• The House passed the Heroes Act, but it still needs to be passed by the Senate. This act expands access to paid sick leave and paid time off, ensures all immigrants have access to testing and stimulus direct payments, and invests in victim services as well as survivors.
• U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto led 22 of her colleagues in sending a letter to Senate leaders, asking that future legislation addressing the coronavirus pandemic also include resources to meet domestic and sexual violence survivors’ urgent housing needs. They want to increase the capacity of local programs to address these needs, as once the immediate health crisis subsides there will be many survivors needing to make plans to escape while facing continued economic strain. They ask that Senate include the following:

• $20 million in Violence Against Women (VAWA) housing vouchers: needed to help survivors who need a housing subsidy to escape violence. Vouchers will help survivors avoid homelessness and keep them from needing to go to an emergency shelter, which are working to reduce the number of residents to adhere to public health requirements.$

• 100 million in additional Domestic Violence Bonus Funds: provides funding for rapid re-housing, transitional housing, and survivor-centered supportive service projects that assist survivors in accessing lifesaving housing resources. Additional funds allocated through the DV Bonus should supplement existing grants and provide new grants to victim service providers to help survivors move quickly. Supplemental resources would also allow communities to provide subsidies to survivors who are facing job loss and other economic instability.
  • DV organizations are calling for the phase four COVID-19 response package:

• Include funding for grants for outreach to underserved communities
• Address the housing needs of survivors
• Meet the economic needs of survivors
• Address the long term impact on survivors by redirecting funds from deferred and non-prosecution agreements from the General Treasury to the Crime Victims Fund

• Temporarily waive match requirements for federal grants
• Ensure immigrants have access to health, safety, and stability, including access to testing and treatment, and restricting immigration enforcement
  • In March 2020, Senators Lisa Murkowski, Bob Casey and Amy Klobuchar sent a letter to Congress requesting that additional funding for programs which support victims of family violence, domestic violence and dating violence be included in the anticipated fourth COVID-19 legislative package, including:

• Funding for shelters and supports, resource centers and technical assistance to support victims of domestic violence, including an additional $100 million for programs funded by the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA);

• Funding to coordinate language-accessible public outreach to hard-to-reach populations, including $100 million for the CDCSet-aside assistance for Tribes and Tribal organizations
• Support for children with increases in emergency supplemental funding under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) to prevent child abuse and neglect
• Provisions to waive the matching requirements under FVPSA and under Title II of CAPTA so workers on the ground can swiftly respond to the needs of survivors during this public health crisis; and

• Additional funding of $100 million for the Sexual Assault Services Program.