Congress has just a few days to get to work on the Violence Against Women Act before they leave for the entire month of August – and then only a few short days in session before the congressional session ends on October 1. Please take 5 minutes to call or write to your own Representative and both Senators in your state!
Since the April passage of a Senate version and a May House-passed version of VAWA, Congress has still not signed the act into law. Congress will go home the first of October and may not come back until after the elections. We have no time to lose!
Call your legislators and write letters to the editor, especially if you are in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin. Let them hear what you have to say before they go on vacation!
Everyone loses if VAWA isn’t finished— all victims need the many improvements in this version of VAWA. What can you do to help?
LIKE TO TALK? CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS AND TELL THEM…
“We need you to do your part to 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.
Please pass VAWA before the recess.”
The Members below need encouragement to stand strong for the current VAWA. If they are your member of Congress, call them at their direct numbers below:
AK Senator Murkowski, 202- 224-6665
AZ Senator McCain, 202- 224-2235
CA Representative Gary Miller, 202 225-3201
CA Representative Lungren, 202 225-5716
CA Representative Denham, 202 225-4540
CA Representative Bilbray, 202 225-0508
CA Representative Bono Mack, 202 225-5330
CO Representative Coffman, 202 225-7882
CO Representative Tipton, 202 225-4761
FL Representative West, 202 225-3026
ID Senator Crapo, 202-224-6142
IL Walsh, 202-225-3711
IL Representative Johnson, 202-225-2371
IN Senator Coats , 202-224-5623
LA Senator Vitter, 202-224-4623
MA Senator Brown, 202-224-4543
ME Senator Collins, 202- 224-2523
ME Senator Snowe, 202-224-5344
MI Representative Benishek, 202-225-4735
NH Representative Guinta, 202-225-5456
NH Senator Ayotte, 202-224-3324
NV Senator Heller, 202-224-6244
NV Representative Heck, 202-225-3252
NY Representative Buerkle, 202-225-3701
NY Representative Grimm, 202-225-3371
NY Hayworth, 202-225-5441
ND Senator Hoeven, 202-224-2551
OH Representative Gibbs, 202-225-6265
OH Representative Johnson, 202-225-5705
OH Representative Renacci, 202-225-3876
OH Senator Portman, 202-224-3353
PA Representative Barletta, 202-225-6511
TN, Senator Alexander, 202-224-4944
TN Senator Corker, 202-224-3344
TX Senator Hutchinson, 202-224-5922
TX Representative Canseco, 202-225-4511
VA Representative Rigell, 202-225-4215
WA Representative Reichert, 202-225-7761
WI Representative Ribble, 202-225-5665
WI Representative Duffy, 202-225-3365
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), 202-225-0600
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), 202-225-4000
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), 202-225-0100
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), 202-224-3542
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 202-224-2541
Chair of the Democratic Conference Senator Chuck Schumer, 202-224-6542
LIKE TO WRITE? WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR – OR GET YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT, RELIGIOUS, HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND ELECTED COMMUNITY LEADERS AND SURVIVORS IN YOUR AREA TO DO THE SAME. Congress will be home soon and it’s time to get those letters to the editor and op-eds in your local papers. Here’s a sample letter to the editor:
To the Editor:
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is vital to our community because (your own thoughts here). 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. Congress must act now and pass a law that protects all victims of violence.
We all know that passing a VAWA that includes ALL victims is the right thing to do – spend these last few days telling your Congress Member to get VAWA done before they go on vacation.
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This resource was adapted from 4vawa.org:
- Visit www.4vawa.org for fact sheets, press coverage, support letters and updates.
- Follow them on Twitter at @NTFVAWA and “like” their Facebook page.
- Tweet about VAWA: #ReauthorizeVAWA, #RealVAWA, and #VAWA.
- Contact ntfvawaalerts@icasa.org to subscribe to their alerts email list.
