TCFV congratulates the new members of the US House and Senate and calls on Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. Now.
Austin, Texas – The Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) welcomes the new Texas members of the United States Congress both in the Senate and House:
Ted Cruz, Senate
Julian Castro, CD-20
Pete Gallego, CD-23
Beto O’Rourke, CD-16
Steve Stockman, CD-36
Marc Veasey, CD-33
Filemon Vela, CD-34
Randy Weber, CD-14
Roger Williams, CD-25
Gloria Terry, TCFV President, urges new members as well as long-serving members of Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, “Job one must be reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).”
Despite strong bi-partisan support for the highly effective VAWA, the previous Congress failed to reauthorize the act, leaving this important effort to the new Congress. VAWA works: since its original passage in 1994, annual rates of domestic violence have plummeted more than 60 percent. Still, intimate partner violence in Texas continues to weigh on families and communities: in 2011, 102 women were killed by their batterers and some 79,053 victims accessed family violence services in fiscal year 2012 alone.
Terry said, “In a time of significant federal gridlock evidenced by failed and sometimes wasteful federal measures, VAWA represents the opposite: a well-vetted and successful approach to helping victims of intimate partner violence obtain safety and to holding batterers accountable.”
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Texas Council on Family Violence is a statewide organization representing a network of domestic violence programs that provide direct services to victims and their families, and serves as the voice of victims at the state level while working with local communities to create strategies. For more information go to: http://www.tcfv.org/