CRS: Violence Against Women Act: History and Federal Funding (August 2, 2007) [pdf]

On July 26, 2007, the House passed HR 3093, the Commerce, Justice, Science and related Agencies Appropriations Act, which provided FY2008 funding of $459 million for VAWA programs in DOJ. Three amendments were adopted during floor debate that increased VAWA funding $29 million above the level recommended by the Appropriations Committee. An amendment introduced by Representative Capito sought to provide a $10 million increase in funding for the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Enforcement program, for a total of $50 million. Representative Inslee sponsored an amendment that sought to provide an additional $14 million for the Office on Violence Against Women, of which $6 million was to be for services to advocated for and respond to youth, $6 million was to be used to assist children and youth exposed to violence, $1 million for research relating to violence against Indian women, and $1 million for the national tribal sex offender registry. An amendment introduced by Representative Reichert would provide $5 million for the court training and improvements to respond to victims of violence program. The sponsors of these amendments provided spending reductions in other accounts in order to maintain the total spending for the bill.(An update was made to this report in September 2007, but there are no substantial changes.)