[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 172 (Friday, October 2, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5662-H5665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GET WELL SOON PRESIDENT TRUMP
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2019, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Green) for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, before I get to H. Res. 1168, I
would like to say just a few words about a very pressing issue in my
mind.
I was approached just recently by a reporter who was very nice and
very kind to me, and she wanted my statements about the President and
his current circumstance. I did give her my commentary, but I would
also like to indicate that, in her request, she was a little bit
concerned as to whether or not people across the aisle from the
President would find some degree of comfort in making statements about
his condition.
Well, here is what I believe: I believe that in times such as these,
I believe that, when a person is ill, we have to put politics aside. I
believe that we should respect the humanity of every person.
I have a deep abiding affinity for every person's humanity, and I
explained to her that I have said a prayer for the President as early
as this morning. I especially mentioned the President, the First Lady,
and Ms. Hicks.
I am saddened by what has happened, to be quite candid with you. I
wish no person this illness. This virus is vicious, and my prayer is
that the President will get well soon.
I also mentioned that there was one bit of good news as it relates to
the President, and it was that his son does not have this virus. I
don't think that that is the ultimate in good news. We want everybody
to recover--everybody--not just the President, the First Lady, and Ms.
Hicks. We want everybody to recover.
I know how my mother loved me, and my mother would have assumed every
illness that I had if she could have. She loved me to the extent that
she made great sacrifices for me. So I would hope and I believe that
the President and the First Lady had some degree and comfort in knowing
that their son does not have this virus.
I would hope that every person in this country will get proper
treatment
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and every person will walk away from this virus and that our country
will be able to say that we were able to unite and overcome the virus.
{time} 1300
My final comment to the reporter was I do want to see the President
get well soon and my prayer is that we can unite against this virus.
There are many other things that we can unite around, too, and should
unite around, but this virus is vicious, and my hope is that our
country will unite against the virus.
National Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, having said this, I now rise. And
still I rise.
Today, in the name of liberty and justice for all, I rise. And I rise
to present H. Res. 1168, the original National Domestic Violence
Awareness Month resolution, and I have this Special Order time to speak
to the world, if you will, by and through this microphone, which takes
the message far and wide, about domestic violence.
I rise today in support of those who have endured, and many continue
to endure, domestic violence across our country.
People are suffering from the pandemic, and those who are suffering
from the pandemic and they have got domestic violence to deal with,
they are suffering in some ways that I probably cannot understand.
But because they are suffering, those of us who have it within our
power to do something about those who suffer, I believe we must do it.
I believe that too often, those who suffer have to depend upon those
who are comfortable to get their relief. Suffering should not be
dependent upon those who decide that, ``That is not my problem.''
We all have to assume that domestic violence is our problem, because
domestic violence does not discriminate. It is like the virus, in a
sense, the coronavirus. It is not just something that is endemic to
Democrats or Republicans or Independents. It doesn't recognize party
lines.
People who engage in this activity come from all walks of life. It
doesn't matter whether you are rich or poor: domestic violence can be a
part of your life. And it has been a part of the lives of people who
have been very wealthy, very poor, and in between.
It doesn't matter where you come from. It can be something that is,
unfortunately, imposed upon you.
And domestic violence, while it is something that happens to women
much more often than men, it does happen to men as well.
It happens to all persons regardless of race, creed, color, national
origin, regardless of your sexuality, and it has especially been a
problem for women who are trans. It has been a serious problem. Lives
have been lost.
So I rise today in support of all who would support efforts to end
domestic violence.
I am not a person who wants to see things simply get better. I think
``better'' is something that we acquire before we get to the end, but
that is not the end. We are not looking to just make it better. We want
to end domestic violence.
I rise today with this bipartisan resolution. It is important to say
this, that it is bipartisan. Members across the aisle feel as strongly
about domestic violence as Members on this side of the aisle.
The bipartisan resolution has the support of 21 additional Members of
Congress. And my guess is we would have more than this 21 if not but
for the fact that we had to drop the resolution on the 1st of the
month, this is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and people are doing
so many different things now and are leaving town, so they didn't get a
chance to really review it so that they could sign onto it. I do
believe that there would be many more Members.
But for those who have signed on, I think it appropriate to let the
world know that they are part of this and that there is an anticipation
that there will be others to join us in this bipartisan resolution.
The resolution is cosponsored by Representative Ann Wagner, a very
dear friend. She and I have worked on many things together.
Representative Rick Larsen, another friend. All of these persons are
persons that I have had some relationship with. Representative Pete
Olson, Representative Bobby C. Scott, Representative Henry Cuellar,
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, Representative Albio Sires,
Representative David Price, Representative Bobby Rush,
Representative Sylvia Garcia, Representative Sanford Bishop,
Representative Sean Casten, Representative Tom Malinowski,
Representative Peter Welch, Representative Barbara Lee, Representative
Danny Davis, Representative Susie Lee, Representative Eleanor Holmes
Norton, Representative Alcee L. Hastings, Representative Dina Titus,
Representative Tom O'Halleran, and Representative Raul Grijalva.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank all of them for joining us for this
movement, to be a part of this movement to end domestic violence.
October 1 was first declared as National Domestic Violence Awareness
Month 31 years ago in 1989. Since then, October has been a time to
acknowledge domestic violence survivors and to be a voice for those who
have been victimized by domestic violence.
Domestic violence is prevalent in every community and affects all
people regardless of age, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation,
gender, race, religion, or national origin. I realize that I just
repeated myself, but some things bear repeating. These are such things.
Physical violence is often accompanied by emotional abuse and
controlling behavior as part of a much larger systemic pattern of
dominance and control.
The people that I talk to, who are supposed to understand this much
better than I, make it very clear to me that this is about control,
about dominance; not always, but to the extent that we can generalize
and say that this is what it is about, it is about control and
dominance, one person wanting to dictate to another person, to the
extent that if the person doesn't comply, there are consequences.
We cannot live in a world where persons are allowed to impose their
will on other people simply because they have the power to do so, they
are physically capable of doing so, they are mentally situated such
that they can do so. We can't allow it.
Domestic violence is devastating, and the consequences of domestic
violence can cross generations and last a lifetime.
Crossing generations can occur when a child lives in a home where
domestic violence is prevalent. Children learn from their parents; they
learn from the behavior of their parents. The behavior of parents is
something that children will accept, but they will also attempt to
replicate it. The replication of it takes it across generations.
We cannot accept the notion that our children, when they are in their
formative years, will be allowed to see parents as this kind of conduct
is exhibited and then adopt it, and when they grow up, unfortunately,
some of them will take on the ugly habits and behavior of their
parents.
Women are disproportionately victims of domestic violence, as one in
four women and one in seven men ages 18 and older will experience
domestic violence at some point in their life. It is a very
disheartening statement.
On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or
boyfriends in the United States every day. This is something that bears
repeating. On average, more than three women are murdered by their
husbands or boyfriends in the United States every day.
This ought to shock the conscience of the Nation. This is
unacceptable. Awareness is important, but we have got to do more than
simply make people aware.
I will say more about this, as I have now a colleague who has joined
me, and I am honored to introduce him.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr.
O'Halleran), my friend from Arizona's First District.
Mr. O'Halleran is from the great State of Arizona. He represents
Arizona 1. But something more important ought to be said: He is from
across the aisle. This is the demonstration of bipartisanship that I
spoke of earlier, and I want to thank him and commend him for what he
is doing to help us end domestic violence.
As he moves to the microphone, my hope is that those who have not had
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the opportunity to be here today will have the opportunity to say more
in the future. This is one of the times when too much said about this
will not be enough.
Mr. O'HALLERAN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Green) for hosting this important Special Order hour.
I did used to be a Republican. I am no longer.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize October as Domestic Violence
Awareness Month.
As a former law enforcement officer, some of the very first calls I
responded to involved domestic violence. I have seen firsthand the
damage this uniquely hideous kind of violence can do to families and
survivors.
When you come to a situation like this and you look around the room,
you can see it in the children's eyes, the fear that they have; you can
see a family in turmoil; you can clearly identify the tension that is
in the room; and too many times, sadly, you can also identify the
damage that has been done through violence in that same room.
As a member of the Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence, I am
proud to cosponsor and recognize the month of October as Domestic
Violence Awareness Month.
Together, as one body, we must commit to working to secure justice
for survivors both in and out of the courtroom. The courtroom is an
important aspect, but it is not the only aspect of this. It is
important and we have to get there.
If we can resolve these issues before that by having appropriate help
for that family, appropriate services for that family, the process of
identifying the underlying causes that occurred in that family, then
hopefully courtrooms will not have to be used.
This Congress, I reintroduced my Help End Abusive Living Situations,
or HEALS, Act legislation to assist the survivors of domestic violence
to rapidly secure safe housing situations.
No person experiencing domestic violence should be forced to stay in
a dangerous situation because they do not have housing elsewhere.
It is great to have family, but many of our victims don't have family
nearby. We need to make sure that our victims are able to seek safety.
In Arizona, when I was in the legislature, there was a shortage of
domestic violence facilities to be able to house families. We overcame
some of that, but it is still true today, and it is true in Arizona and
many other States across this land. We must be able to stop that.
{time} 1315
Mr. Green clearly identified the amount of terrible and tragic deaths
that occur every day. It also tears apart families. We need to help
mend those families back to where they need to be in order to make sure
that those children may have the potential to have a normal life. But
if not that, we have to provide the necessary help.
As the Representative of Arizona's First Congressional District, I am
humbled to represent 12 sovereign Tribal nations. Federal data
indicates that 55 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women
have experienced physical violence by their intimate partners.
I know for a fact that on many Tribal nations, help may not arrive
for hours. On the Navajo reservation, in the last few years, three
officers have died, not by answering a call for a bank robbery, or the
fact that they have to go and address a burglary issue or help somebody
else. They died because they had to be alone going there because there
are no other police nearby. And they are dead today because of that,
and their families are suffering still.
I joined my colleagues to introduce the SURVIVE Act, a bill that
would provide legal, medical, and counseling resources to women and
children in Tribal communities who are survivors of domestic violence.
It would also help those officers who have to respond to that scene and
also the children of that family.
Let's use Navajo as an example. Navajo is the size of West Virginia.
It takes in parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. Most of it is in
Arizona. There are only about 220 officers for 3 shifts, sick leave,
and everything else, to respond to domestic violence in areas far away
from many of the towns nearby.
To those experiencing domestic violence, and those who have lost a
loved one to this hideous and deeply personal form of violence, I know
that we cannot pretend to understand your pain, but we will keep
fighting for change at every level.
Another example, I had the sad responsibility to be a homicide
investigator for 6 years. Many, many of those cases involved domestic
violence. I also investigated the aftereffects of domestic violence
without death.
I can tell you, because I followed those families through court, time
and time again, saw them year after year, the changes that occurred
within that family because of the death of a loved one, because of the
trauma that occurred, because of the sadness they still had in their
hearts.
Let's keep that in mind as we look down the path on how to address
these types of issues and understand that it is a comprehensive
approach. It is not just sending the police to a location and saying to
a couple, ``Let's all go our different ways,'' and then leave. Society
has to understand that we need to do more.
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I want to give the gentleman my
most profound apology for my snafu. I respect the fact that he has
decided to be a part of what I am a part of, but we are all a part of
this House, and this House functions best when we are united and
working together. So I greatly appreciate the gentleman and thank him
for his commentary.
Madam Speaker, let me continue with a few more facts, and then I
would like to talk about the help that we can make available.
Facts, statistical information: African-American women experience
intimate partner violence at a rate 35 percent higher than White women
and about 2.5 times the rate of other races. But African-American women
are less likely than White women to use social services or battered
women's programs or to go to the hospital because of domestic violence.
Somehow, we must get the word to women of color and make it clear to
them that they can be protected.
As a lawyer, I can recall a circumstance where a victim of domestic
violence came to my office for help. I, obviously, wanted to help her,
recognizing her condition.
She didn't have to tell me that she was a victim. It was very
obvious, looking at her physicality. Her eyes were battered and
swollen. Her face was bruised. You could see where someone had held her
arm tightly, to the extent that there were marks on her body. She was
truly a battered person, and she wanted help.
Her mother was with her. Her mother begged that we do something to
help her daughter, and we did. We helped her with the filing of her
case.
Here is something that will break your heart because it broke my
heart. Within days after her case was filed, she came back to the
office, and she wanted me to help her get the charges dismissed. It
hurts my heart to even tell the story.
No amount of pleas could change her position because she felt that
somehow she had acted too quickly. She felt that somehow they should be
able to work this out without intervention. She felt that he was the
breadwinner for the family, and somehow, she would be denied access to
the breadwinner.
It was a very painful thing for her, much more painful than it was
for me, I am sure. But it was still a painful incident in my life.
I mention this because, with the statistical information indicating
that women of color don't go to the hospital, they don't go through the
various programs. I mention this because in Texas now, the law has
changed, such that the woman is not forced to testify against her
husband to the extent that it was the case before. The State can bring
the charges now.
Unfortunately, for too long, women were put in a position where they
had to give the testimony. They were forced to give the testimony. The
testimony had to come from some source, so it came from them.
But now, the State of Texas can bring these charges, and it doesn't
have to be the spouse against the spouse.
I think this is an important step forward. But this is not enough.
We have to assure women that they can come forward and coming forward
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will not cause them to be victimized to an even greater extent. We have
to give them this assurance, which means that there have to be
counselors available for them to visit with.
They will have to have the opportunity to find a safe house, a place
where they can start their lives without fear each day that something
may happen.
This is the kind of thing that we can do here in Congress with our
legislation and that we have been doing, to be very candid, providing
safe houses, making sure that the persons are taken care of. This is
important.
Noncitizen victims of domestic violence report heightened concerns
with accessing law enforcement and services due to uncertainty arising
from changing immigration policies and heightened immigration
enforcement.
Noncitizens must be given the same opportunity to get help as
citizens. We cannot assume that somehow a noncitizen is not worthy of
the same level of help as citizens. Victims are human beings. To the
same extent as persons who are born in this country as those who are
born outside of this country, we have to protect all victims.
There are some who don't want to see us spend as much money on
persons who are undocumented. There are some. But I believe that, in
this House, we have people who understand that it doesn't matter where
you are from, how you got here. If you are the victim of a crime, you
ought to get the help that you merit by virtue of having an infraction
committed against you. If you are the victim of a crime, it doesn't
matter your place of origin. If you need help, we will help you. And we
should help you beyond simply allowing you to file charges against a
person.
While you are here, we have to protect you. You ought to have a safe
house available to you as well, regardless of where you are from.
At least 15,500,000 children live in families in which domestic
violence occurred at least once in the past year--at least once in the
past year.
One in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each
year, and 90 percent of these children are eyewitnesses to such
violence. Children should not be exposed to a circumstance where one
parent is harming another or where any person is harming another
person.
Children exposed to domestic violence are more likely to attempt
suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, and become
victims of human trafficking.
One large study found that men exposed to physical abuse, sexual
abuse, or adult domestic violence as children were four times more
likely than other men to have perpetrated domestic violence as an
adult.
I spoke of this earlier. Some things bear repeating. Men who were
exposed to physical abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence are four
times more likely than other men to perpetrate domestic violence as
adults.
The approach to ending domestic violence has to be holistic. It has
to be an approach that deals with each and every aspect of it. We
cannot decide that we are going to take on a portion of it and assume
that the rest will take care of itself. It doesn't take care of itself.
It only gets exacerbated.
We have to do more to protect persons, regardless of their gender, as
it relates to domestic violence.
{time} 1330
I now would like to move to what I said I would talk about earlier,
the fact that we have to do more than get the word out, the fact that
it is not enough to sympathize and empathize. Sympathy and empathy are
worthy of praise, but we have got to do more than sympathize and
empathize. We are attempting to do more.
In the Heroes Act 2, we have domestic violence grants and funding.
The updated Heroes Act provides critical health and economic support to
communities and families: $100 million in additional funding for family
violence prevention and services is available. It will provide much-
needed support for domestic violence organizations by waiving matching
requirements on all Federal moneys. These funds are for the duration of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
And when I say Federal funds, I am talking about family violence
prevention and services programs.
$375 million dollars is for Violence Against Women programs, with a
waiver of local match requirements, including: $100 million in grants
to combat violence against women, $100 million for sexual assault
victims so that they may have assistance, $50 million for assistance to
Tribal governments, $40 million for transitional housing assistance
grants, $25 million to enhance culturally specific services for victims
of domestic violence, $25 million for outreach and services to
underserved populations, $20 million for rural domestic violence and
child abuse enforcement assistance, and $15 million to support families
in the justice system. These are moneys in the Heroes Act for victims
of domestic violence.
We have $62.5 billion for administration for children and families.
This will provide supportive and social services for families and
children through programs, including: $100 million for family violence
prevention and services, which includes $2 million for the National
Domestic Violence Hotline--I will be giving that number out in just a
moment; $4 billion in tenant-based rental assistance.
This will allow public housing agencies to respond to coronavirus and
the ability to keep over 2.2 million families stably housed even when
facing a loss of income, including $1 billion for new and temporary
vouchers for individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of
becoming homeless or fleeing domestic violence. This will allow the
PHAs to have the flexibility necessary for the safe and effective
administration of these funds, while maintaining fair housing,
nondiscrimination, labor standards, and other environmental
protections.
There are grants to assist low-income women and survivors of domestic
violence in obtaining qualified domestic violence relations orders.
This provision directs the Secretary of Labor, acting through the
Director of the Women's Bureau in conjunction with the Assistant
Secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, to award
grants of at least $250,000 to establish community-based organizations
on a competitive basis to assist low-income women and survivors of
domestic violence in obtaining qualified domestic relations orders to
ensure that these women actually obtain the benefits to which they are
entitled through these orders.
Simply put, we are assisting women to get court orders that can
protect them.
As a judge in a former life, we were in a position to issue
retraining orders to protect persons who were being threatened. Well,
this is the money to assist in allowing people to acquire these
restraining orders.
The domestic violence hotline, I indicated that I would give you the
number, Madam Speaker, so if you need help and you have heard of what
is available and what we would like to have available, here is the
number. It is a National Domestic Violence Hotline. It operates 24/7.
The number is, and I shall repeat it, 1-800-799-7233. 1-800-799-7233.
I would beg that, if you believe you need help, you would call this
number.
I would hope that we will pass the bill that will provide all of
these various services that I have called to your attention. It is a
crisis. It is a crisis within a crisis.
But we have the power to change these things, and my hope is that we
will use this power. It is not enough to be sympathetic and empathetic.
We have to do more. We can be helpful. Sympathy and empathy are
wonderful things, but they won't replace the money necessary to provide
persons with counseling, provide them with a safe house, and provide
them with healthcare that they would need as a result of domestic
violence.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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