Fitzpatrick Introduces Bipartisan Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021

Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) has introduced the bipartisan Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) of 2021. This legislation authorizes funding for a variety of critical grant programs, including for victim services, prevention, training, education, enforcement, economic stability and other programs that support survivors and help them to heal and to access justice. 

VAWA’s authorization expired in 2018. Last Congress, the House passed a bipartisan reauthorization, but the Senate failed to take it up. The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021 is a slightly updated version of the bill passed last Congress, and it addresses the challenges identified by survivors and by domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, and other organizations that serve survivors, according to a representative for Fitzpatrick.

It has now been eight years since VAWA was last authorized. The landmark legislation, enacted in 1994 under the leadership of then-Senate Judiciary Chair Joe Biden, responds to the nation’s issues of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. 

“Congress must continue to aggressively combat domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking by passing our bipartisan Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021,” said Fitzpatrick. “VAWA has been instrumental in improving and enhancing our nation's response to safeguarding women and children from abuse, anguish, and violence. Congress has historically reauthorized VAWA with broad, bipartisan agreement, and I look forward to working alongside my colleagues to ensure that VAWA continues to protect victims and survivors across the nation.” 

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021 aims to improve current law in several respects:

• Enhances and expands victim services
• Reauthorizes grant programs to improve the criminal justice response to gender-based violence and expands allowable uses
• Invests in prevention
• Improves access to housing for victims and survivors
• Helps survivors gain and maintain economic independence
• Ends impunity for non-Native perpetrators of sexual assault, child abuse co-occurring with domestic violence, stalking, sex trafficking, and assaults on tribal law enforcement officers on tribal lands
• Supports Communities of Color
• Protects victims of dating violence from firearm homicide
• Maintains existing protections for all survivors
• Improves the healthcare system’s response to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking

VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2021 is supported by the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (NTF), a large and diverse group of national, tribal, state, territorial, and local organizations, advocates, and individuals that focus on the development, passage, and implementation of effective public policy to address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. 

A copy of the bill is available here. A section-by-section analysis is available here.

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