Capta Reauthorization Act of 2010

Floor Speech

Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Sablan for yielding. I am just so overjoyed to be rising today to celebrate the imminent passage of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, or FVPSA, as well as the passage of CAPTA, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.

By taking swift action to pass these bills before the end of the year, we are taking a stand to protect victims of domestic violence as well as children who are victims of abuse. We are also taking landmark steps to help break the cycle of abuse for generations to come.

I want to pause here to personally thank Chairman George Miller of the Education and Labor Committee and Senator Chris Dodd. I have worked so hard to bring attention to these bills, and I have been fortunate enough to have strong allies in these two chairmen, both of whom are extremely committed to these causes. I have had the honor of being the lead sponsor and champion for FVPSA in the House, but I certainly wouldn't be celebrating here today without the good work of Chairman Miller and Senator Dodd.

I also need to acknowledge and thank the many advocates and victim service providers who helped shape this legislation and who rallied support at key moments, particularly the advocates for the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Now, in spite of the fact that we have made great progress towards acknowledging that domestic violence is a crime, a crisis and a threat to public health, we have got such a long way to go. One in four women in this country experiences domestic violence in her life. Every day in this country, an average of three women are killed by a current or former intimate partner. In my State alone, deaths from domestic violence are the highest in a decade, and approximately 15.5 million children are exposed to domestic violence each year. In fact, one-half to two-thirds of domestic violence shelter residents are children.

The women and men who are victimized live in each and every one of your congressional districts. They come from all walks of life regardless of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religion or partisan affiliation. They are members of our families; they are friends; they are neighbors; they are coworkers. As well, some in this room have been victims and survivors of this violence.

Since the economic downturn started, we have been hearing more and more horror stories from the shelters and service providers. The economy has been making bad situations worse for an increasing number of victims, many of whom have few resources on which to rely in order to flee their abusers.

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