Biden Marks 30 Years of Violence Against Women Act

For too long, we have ignored the right of women to be free from the fear of attack based on their gender. For too long, we have kept silent about the obvious." - Joseph R. Biden, Jr. speaking at a Hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, June 20, 1990

Today, President Biden will deliver remarks at the White House to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), landmark bipartisan legislation that he wrote and championed as a U.S. Senator and has worked across the aisle to strengthen ever since. He will reflect on the significant progress we have made in reducing violence and supporting survivors as well as the work ahead to realize VAWA's promise of a nation where every woman and girl can live free from fear, free from violence, and free from abuse.

Working to end gender-based violence has been a cornerstone of President Biden's and Vice President Harris' careers. VAWA was the first comprehensive federal law to focus on preventing and addressing violence against women and to provide justice and support for survivors. The law transformed the nation's response to gender-based violence by recognizing that domestic violence and sexual assault are not a private matter but rather a violation of fundamental rights and dignity. Between 1993 and 2022, annual domestic violence rates dropped by 67% and the rate of rapes and sexual assaults declined by 56%.

In the three decades since the original VAWA was signed into law, President Biden has worked with survivors, advocates, experts, and Members of Congress of both parties to reauthorize and strengthen the law four times. As President, he signed into law the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022-critical legislation that expands access to safety and support for survivors, increases prevention efforts, and establishes new federal protections against online harassment and abuse. The President and Vice President also secured the highest-ever funding levels to implement VAWA, and the Biden-Harris Administration has acted quickly to implement the law's new programs and protections.

To mark the 30th anniversary of VAWA, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing the following new actions:

• Providing new funds to address gender-based violence and support survivors. The Department of Justice-the lead agency in VAWA implementation-will announce more than $690 million in FY 2024 grant funding to support survivors of gender-based violence. This includes more than $40 million to implement new grant programs established by the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, including trauma-informed training for law enforcement, pilot programs for serving protection orders electronically, strategies to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and victim-centered and trauma-informed restorative practices programs that address gender-based violence. By September 30, the Department of Justice will have announced funding awards for more than 40 grant programs and initiatives to help states, Tribes, territories, law enforcement, victim advocates, and community-based organizations address gender-based violence.
• Meeting the housing needs of survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. Gender-based violence is a leading cause of homelessness for families with children. Today, five federal agencies-the Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, the Treasury, and Veterans Affairs-are issuing a new interagency statement to affirm VAWA's housing protections for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking as well as other individuals, such as those who assist survivors. The new statement underscores survivors' housing rights under VAWA, identifies potential housing scenarios that highlight the need for VAWA's housing protections, and reaffirms the agencies' commitment to enforcing VAWA's expanded housing protections in a manner consistent with each agencies' authorities. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is also announcing the establishment of the Office on Gender-Based Violence, as directed by the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, which is located in the Office of the Secretary and coordinates and implements policies and programs to address the safe housing and economic stability needs of survivors.
• Addressing online harassment and abuse. The Department of Justice will announce a funding award for the new National Resource Center on Cybercrimes Against Individuals as authorized by the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022. This new Resource Center will help law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim services organizations prevent, enforce, and prosecute cybercrimes against individuals, including cyberstalking, the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, and other forms of technology-facilitated abuse. The Department of Justice will also announce approximately $5.5 million in new grant funds to support local law enforcement in prosecuting cybercrimes against individuals and a $250,000 award to provide training and technical assistance to schools and other youth-serving organizations to improve youth online safety and support young survivors of technology-facilitated abuse.
• Engaging the private sector to combat image-based sexual abuse. Image-based sexual abuse-including real images distributed without consent and synthetic content generated by artificial intelligence (AI)-has skyrocketed in recent years, disproportionately targeting women, children, and LGBTQI+ people and emerging as one of the fastest growing harmful uses of AI to date. Today, following the Vice President's leadership in underscoring the urgent need to address deepfake image-based sexual abuse and the White House Call to Action to Combat Image-Based Sexual Abuse, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing a set of voluntary commitments from AI model developers and data providers to curb the creation of image-based sexual abuse and proactively reduce the risk of new images from being generated without someone's consent as well as ensure that known, verified instances of image-based sexual abuse are excluded from their products and systems. These actions complement new efforts from the private sector to support voluntary principles to combat image-based sexual abuse through a working group with advocates, survivors, and researchers.
• Supporting states in using federal funds to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. Guns and domestic violence are a lethal combination: access to a gun makes it five times more likely that a woman will die at the hands of her abuser. State laws that require people under domestic violence-related restraining orders to turn in their firearms are associated with a 14 to 16 percent lower intimate partner firearm homicide rate. To help keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, the Department of Justice is expanding technical assistance and federal funding opportunities for state and local law enforcement programs that remove firearms from domestic abusers convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence or subject to a protective order. The Department's new resources-which will include training, toolkits, and best practices from the Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Firearms Technical Assistance Project-follow a recent Resource Guide to Address the Intersection of Domestic Violence and Firearms that encourages states to use federal funds for law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts to address this critical intersection. North Carolina, for example, is pursuing opportunities to use federal funding to address firearms and domestic violence by creating training materials for judges, district attorneys and survivors.
• Strengthening enforcement of new provisions to narrow the "boyfriend loophole." President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which narrowed the "boyfriend loophole" by prohibiting persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes in dating relationships from purchasing or possessing firearms for at least five years. To further implement and enforce this protection, the Department of Justice will work with states to educate them about the scope of this provision and to help ensure that the records of prohibited abusers are available to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. These efforts will inform the work of both law enforcement as well as state records repositories and court systems.
• Disrupting the cycle of abuse by supporting youth exposed to domestic violence.The Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services within the Department of Health and Human Services will announce $19 million in new funds to support state and local coalitions, Tribal communities, and community-based programs in disrupting the cycle of domestic violence. These funds will be used to meet the needs of children exposed to family violence, domestic violence, or dating violence as well as to provide services to their non-abusing parents-with the goal of preventing future violence and supporting children and families.

The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to preventing and ending gender-based violence wherever it occurs. Because, as then-Vice President Biden made clear on the 20th anniversary of VAWA, even one case of gender-based violence is too many. The Administration will continue to take steps to realize VAWA's fundamental promise of a nation where every survivor of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking can access the safety, justice, and healing they need and live free from fear, free from violence, and free from abuse.

Implementing the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022

VAWA remains just as important today as it was when the law was first passed in 1994, and the Biden-Harris Administration is continuing to implement the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022's expanded protections and services, including for survivors from underserved and marginalized communities, as well as investments in prevention, and new protections against online harassment and abuse.

• Protecting and supporting survivors of gender-based violence. The Department of Justice awarded more than $630 million in VAWA grants and cooperative agreements in FY 2023 and more than $690 million in grants in FY 2024 to serve survivors and bolster coordinated community responses aimed at responding to and ending domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. This includes enhanced access to resources for underserved communities, including for LGBTQI+ survivors; funding for survivor-centered, community-based restorative practice services; and increased support for culturally specific services and services in rural communities.
• Expanding access to justice and strengthening gender-based violence protections for Tribal communities. The Department of Justice awarded $68 million in FY 2023 VAWA grants and more than $85 million in FY 2024 VAWA grants to support Native communities to provide services and promote justice for survivors. In making these awards, the Department took new measures to increase access to the Tribal Governments Grant Program. The Department has also supported Tribal implementation of new provisions that recognized expanded special Tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Native perpetrators of sexual violence, child violence, stalking, assaults on Tribal law enforcement officers, and sex trafficking on Tribal lands, in addition to domestic and dating violence. These efforts have included launching a new Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Reimbursement Program. The Department also launched a pilot program to support Alaska Native Tribes that want to exercise special Tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian offenders for certain crimes, including crimes of sexual and domestic violence.
• Supporting the housing needs of survivors. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which awarded $10 million in VAWA technical assistance funding in 2023, is working closely with its VAWA technical assistance providers and program offices to provide robust training and technical assistance to Department's housing grantees, owners, and managers. The Department also published a first-of-its-kind report on the housing needs of survivors of human trafficking, as required by the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 and is releasing a new fact sheet that applies the report's findings to help assist youth trafficking survivors and youth at risk of trafficking with housing needs.
• Promoting and strengthening prevention services and responses to stop violence before it occurs.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided more than $49 million in FY 2024 to more than 110 state health departments and state, territorial, and Tribal sexual assault coalitions for the Rape Prevention and Education Program throughout the United States. Additionally, the Department of Justice will award more than $20 million in FY 2024 to support colleges and universities in preventing and responding to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. These funds help support comprehensive prevention education for students and expanded training for school-based personnel and campus health centers. Separately, the Department of Education-in collaboration with the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services-launched a Task Force on Sexual Violence in Education that has issued new reports on data regarding sexual violence at educational institutions, held listening sessions, and solicited public input on ways to continue the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to improve sexual violence prevention and response on campuses.
• Supporting survivors of online harassment and abuse. To support survivors of image-based abuse, the Department of Justice funded the first-ever national helpline to provide 24/7 support and specialized services for victims of the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. Operated by the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, the Image Abuse Helpline and Online Safety Center is significantly expanding support to survivors of online harassment and abuse, meeting the rising need for services to address the non-consensual creation and distribution of intimate images. The Department of Justice also funded a new project in FY 2023 to address the traumatic impact of image-based sexual abuse through a combination of direct services, capacity building, training, and education to help combat technology-facilitated gender-based violence. In addition to the new actions being announced today to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, the Department of Justice has taken steps to raise awareness of the new provision in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 that created a federal civil cause of action to address the non-consensual distribution of intimate images through resources distributed to United States Attorneys' Offices and national legal and service organizations.
• Strengthening protections for domestic violence survivors at risk of experiencing gun violence. To implement the National Instant Criminal Background Check System Denial Notification Act-which was included in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022-the Federal Bureau of Investigation is actively reporting denied transactions of attempted firearm transfers to appropriate state, local, and Tribal law enforcement within 24 hours. These reports are helping law enforcement investigate and prosecute cases against individuals legally prohibited from receiving firearms who try to do so, including domestic abusers.
• Improving trauma-informed and victim-centered investigations and expanding pathways to justice for survivors. The Department of Justice implemented a new grant program authorized in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 to support demonstration projects and initiatives to train law enforcement officers on trauma-informed and victim-centered investigations of gender-based violence. The Department released a new Framework for Prosecutors to Strengthen our National Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Involving Adult Victims, setting out principles that will lead to better outcomes for survivors, safer communities, and greater accountability for perpetrators of domestic violence and sexual assault, and implemented new funding to support effective policing and prosecution of these crimes. Furthermore, the Department has taken several steps to expand pathways to justice for survivors by implementing a new program, authorized in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, to support, enhance, and expand restorative practice programs that prevent or address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and build evidence for victim-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive restorative practices addressing these harms.

Addressing Gender-Based Violence Beyond VAWA

Building on the foundation of VAWA, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken numerous additional actions to address gender-based violence wherever it occurs-at home, at work, in the military, in schools, in communities, and online.

• Addressing gun violence by domestic abusers. In addition to signing the most significant legislation to reduce gun violence in nearly 30 years and narrowing the "boyfriend loophole," President Biden established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which is overseen by Vice President Harris, to lead the Administration's efforts to end our nation's gun violence epidemic. The Department of Justice has invested $250 million in community-based violence intervention programs and provided $750 million for states to implement crisis interventions, such as red flag laws. And the Department successfully defended at the Supreme Court the constitutionality of a federal law that helps keep guns out of the hands of individuals subject to domestic violence protective orders.
• Implementing historic military justice reforms and supporting survivors. One of President Biden's earliest acts in office was to call for the establishment of the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military to strengthen the military justice response to sexual violence. Since then, we have advanced historic and bipartisan legislative reforms to better protect survivors and fundamentally change how the military investigates and prosecutes sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and related offenses-transferring prosecutorial decisions from commanders to independent military prosecutors and establishing the Offices of Special Trial Counsel. Building on these reforms, in July 2024, the Department of Defense implemented additional Independent Review Commission recommendations to improve the Department's response to sexual assault by removing barriers for those seeking help and by professionalizing the survivor response workforce. The Department of Defense has also made record investments in sexual assault prevention and survivor support, more than doubling annual funding from $500 million to more than $1 billion in 2024 for these lifesaving services, with more than 1,000 integrated primary prevention personnel in place as of June 2024. This work is making a difference: for the first time in nearly a decade, rates of sexual assault and harassment within the active-duty force are down.
• Investing in communities to support survivors and save lives. The President's American Rescue Plan invested nearly $1 billion in supplemental funding for domestic violence and sexual assault services and supports through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Program. The President also signed into law the VOCA Fix Act, which has provided more than $1.4 billion for the Crime Victims Fund to support local programs and services for survivors. Since the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) became law in 1984, we have invested more than $38 billion dollars in local programs that provide mental health, housing, legal assistance, victim advocacy, crisis intervention, and other services to help victims of gender-based violence and other crimes.
• Keeping students safe and addressing campus sexual assault. The Department of Education restored and strengthened vital Title IX nondiscrimination protections for students and employees. The Department's rule provides protection from sex-based harassment, including sexual violence; promotes accountability and fundamental fairness through a transparent and reliable process; and provides clarity to ensure that students, employees, and families understand their rights and that institutions know their responsibilities. The new rule also clarifies that schools have a responsibility to address sex discrimination and harassment that occurs under its programs and activities whether the conduct takes place online, in person, or both, and strengthens definitions for sex-based harassment under Title IX to address the growth in technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including AI-generated abuse.
• Strengthening protections for survivors of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. President Biden signed into law new protections to support survivors and address sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace through the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act and the Speak Out Act. The Office of Personnel Management issued guidance on the use of "safe leave" to support federal employees' access to paid time off and leave without pay for purposes related to seeking safety and recovering from domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and related forms of abuse. The Department of Labor is publishing a package of new resources on "safe leave" policies and awarded new grants under the Fostering Access, Rights and Equity Grant program, which assists underserved and marginalized low-income women workers who have been impacted by gender-based violence and harassment. Separately, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued new resources to help federal agencies and employers prevent and remedy harassment, including sexual harassment, and create respectful workplaces.
• Supporting survivors in accessing housing, homeless assistance, and community services. In February 2024, the Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $57 million in Domestic Violence Bonus projects serving survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking. In July, the Department announced the availability of at least another $52 million in Domestic Violence Bonus projects, which will be issued in early 2025. The Department also directed Homeless Continuum of Care recipients to offer services to people experiencing trauma or a lack of safety related to gender-based violence, consistent with the new definition of "homeless" for survivors included in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022. And Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) grantees used nearly $13 million of CDBG funds and another $8.3 million of CDBG-CV funds in FY 2023 to support services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. CDBG funds supported crisis intervention, crisis hotline, counseling, emergency shelter and housing assistance, legal assistance, and other community services for adults and children as well as survivors.
• Developing the first-ever U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. The White House issued the first-ever U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, a comprehensive, government-wide plan to prevent and address sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other forms of gender-based violence. The National Plan provides a framework for guiding federal action across each of seven strategic pillars-from prevention to economic security and housing stability to online safety.
• Preventing and responding to online harassment and abuse in the U.S. and globally. To strengthen support for survivors of online harassment and abuse, the President established and the Vice President launched the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse, which has coordinated comprehensive actions from more than a dozen federal agencies and supported a record investment of more than $36 million in dedicated funding to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence in the U.S. and globally. The President's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence includes a focus on deepfake image-based abuse and directs federal agencies to take key actions to address this growing online harm. Additionally, the Department of Justice is accelerating its enforcement efforts against the misuse of generative AI to produce child sexual abuse material. The Department will aggressively hold accountable those who exploit AI to create obscene, abusive, and increasingly photorealistic images of children and is prosecuting AI-enabled criminal conduct to the fullest extent of the law and will seek increased sentences wherever warranted. Globally, the Biden-Harris Administration launched the 15-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, which has advanced international policies to address online safety, and spurred new programs to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and counter its chilling effects on women leaders and democratic participation.
• Helping protect survivor privacy and economic security. President Biden signed several new laws to help survivors protect and maintain their privacy and enhance their access to funds and tools like a phone line. The Safe Connections Act allows a survivor of domestic abuse to separate a mobile phone line from an account shared with an abuser. Additionally, the Federal Communications Commission has solicited comment on whether its rules implementing the Safe Connections Act should be updated to stop abusers from using connectivity tools in vehicles to harass and intimidate their partners and has called on auto manufacturers and wireless service providers to help ensure that smart car services are not being used to stalk, harass, or intimidate survivors of gender-based violence. Other laws signed by President Biden include the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act, which allows survivors of domestic violence and others who have faced economic abuse to sever joint student loan debt, and the SECURE 2.0 Act, which allows survivors of domestic abuse to elect to receive penalty-free distributions from an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
• Addressing gender-based violence in Native communities. In addition to the Biden-Harris Administration's actions to implement the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, President Biden issued an Executive Order directing federal agencies to address the crisis of missing or murdered Indigenous peoples, which significantly impacts women, girls, LGBTQI+ people, and Two-Spirit Native Americans. Pursuant to the Not Invisible Act, the Departments of Justice and the Interior established the Not Invisible Act Commission in 2022, a cross-jurisdictional advisory committee composed of law enforcement, Tribal leaders, federal partners, service providers, family members of missing or murdered individuals, and survivors. The Commission provided recommendations to improve the federal government's efforts to address violent crime and the high rates of people reported missing in Native communities, which the Departments responded to earlier this year. Additionally, the United States relaunched the North American Trilateral Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls, in collaboration with the governments of Canada and Mexico, and with the participation of Indigenous women leaders from all three countries.
• Improving access to sexual assault forensic examinations. Over the past three years, the Department of Justice has dedicated more than $124 million to the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which provides funding to support the inventory, tracking, and testing of previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits; the collection and testing of DNA from arrestees and offenders; and resources to address the cold case sexual assault investigations and prosecutions that result from evidence and Combined DNA Index System hits produced by tested sexual assault kits; among other services. The Department has also provided nearly $18 million to increase access to trained sexual assault medical forensic examiners, improve access to wrap-around care for survivors, and establish regional Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) training programs and a Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing model to prepare current and future SANEs. With $10 million in FY 2024 funding, the Department will implement a new program to further address nationwide gaps in the availability and quality of post-sexual assault medical forensic care by establishing new SANE/Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner programs, strengthening existing ones, and providing technical assistance to support these programs.
• Combatting human trafficking and strengthening protections for noncitizen trafficking victims. The Biden-Harris Administration released an updated National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking laying out an integrated federal response to human trafficking as well as a National Human Trafficking Prevention Framework. Since then, the Department of Justice has disseminated more than $190 million in funding to combat human trafficking and support survivors and released updated guidelines for its employees who work with victims and witnesses of crime to provide enhanced protections for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking and for other vulnerable victims.

Separately, the Department of Homeland Security adopted a victim-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive approach to protecting survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking as well as other vulnerable victims. The Department of Homeland Security also finalized a rule to strengthen the integrity of the T nonimmigrant visa process, which enables certain noncitizen victims of human trafficking to remain in the U.S. for an initial period of up to four years, and ensure eligible victims of human trafficking can access protections and stabilizing benefits in a timely manner. Additionally, the Department established a process to conduct bona fide determinations and provide employment authorization and deferred action to noncitizen victims of crime, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, with pending petitions for U nonimmigrant status for those who met certain standards.

• Investing in preventing and ending gender-based violence globally. Over the last two fiscal years, the United States maintained the highest-ever level of investment-$250 million-to address gender-based violence globally. This work is guided by the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, which addresses 21st century challenges, including the rise of gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic; technology-facilitated gender-based violence; and safety risks related to climate migration and displacement. Under this strategy, we secured the first-ever U.S. commitment to the United Nations Global Programme to End Child Marriage and continued our long-standing commitment to the United Nations Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation.
• Advancing justice and accountability for conflict-related sexual violence. The Biden-Harris Administration has condemned sexual violence whenever and wherever it occurs, including in South Sudan, Iraq, Haiti, Ukraine, and the attacks committed by Hamas in Israel on October 7 - and in Gaza against hostages. In 2022, President Biden issued an historic Presidential Memorandum on Promoting Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, committing to fully exercising U.S. authorities-including sanctions, visa restrictions, and security assistance vetting-to impose consequences on perpetrators of this human rights abuse. The Biden-Harris Administration has since issued two sets of sanctions against perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence around the globe, launched the Dignity in Documentation Initiative to provide support for efforts to investigate and document conflict-related sexual violence, and will support justice for survivors by promoting accountability for crimes punishable under international law. Vice President Harris condemned conflict-related sexual violence and convened survivors at the White House in 2024.