[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 831 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 831
Supporting the goals and ideals of October as ``National Domestic
Violence Awareness Month''.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 1, 2023
Mr. Green of Texas (for himself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Allred, Ms. Barragan,
Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Boyle of Pennsylvania,
Ms. Brown, Ms. Brownley, Ms. Bush, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Cardenas, Mr.
Carter of Louisiana, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms.
Chu, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Costa, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Crow, Mr.
Davis of Illinois, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Doggett, Ms.
Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Ms. Garcia of
Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Himes, Mr. Hoyer, Ms. Hoyle of Oregon, Mr.
Ivey, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of Illinois,
Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Kuster, Mr.
Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Mace, Ms. Matsui, Mrs. McBath,
Ms. McClellan, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGarvey, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Mfume, Ms.
Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Moulton, Mr.
Moylan, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Neguse, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Nickel, Ms.
Norton, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Payne, Mr. Peters, Ms.
Pettersen, Ms. Porter, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Ross, Mr. Sablan,
Mr. Schiff, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Stevens, Mrs. Sykes, Mr. Takano, Ms. Titus,
Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Trone, Mr. Vargas, Ms.
Velazquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Wild, Ms.
Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of Florida, and Mr. Soto) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education
and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Supporting the goals and ideals of October as ``National Domestic
Violence Awareness Month''.
Whereas this resolution may be cited as the ``Original National Domestic
Violence Awareness Month Resolution'';
Whereas intimate partner violence affects people of all ages as well as all
racial, ethnic, gender, economic, and religious backgrounds;
Whereas an average of 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical
violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States,
amounting to more than 12,000,000 women and men over the course of a
single year;
Whereas, in 2022, the National Domestic Violence Hotline answered more than
446,000 calls, chats, and texts, more than any other year before;
Whereas of the reported abuse types, 93 percent of those contacting the National
Domestic Violence Hotline disclosed emotional abuse, 63 percent stated
physical abuse, 32 percent described economic or financial abuse, 18
percent revealed digital abuse, and 14 percent detailed sexual abuse;
Whereas 77 percent of those contacting the National Domestic Violence Hotline
identified as victims or survivors, 11 percent identified as friends,
family members, or other helpers, and 12 percent identified as
``other'', such as those working with survivors or even those causing
harm;
Whereas women are disproportionately victims of domestic violence, as
approximately 1 in 2 women and 2 in 5 men will experience intimate
partner violence or stalking during their lifetimes;
Whereas survivors of domestic violence are strong, courageous, and resilient;
Whereas, on average, almost 3 women are murdered by an intimate partner in the
United States every day;
Whereas women ages 18 to 34 experience the highest rates, per capita, of
intimate partner violence;
Whereas 25.8 percent of women and 14.6 percent of men who were victims of
contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate
partner first experienced these or other forms of violence before age
18;
Whereas nearly 1 in 3 college women say they have been in an abusive dating
relationship;
Whereas 1 in 12 high school students has experienced violence, either physical
or sexual, from a dating partner in the past year;
Whereas more than 1 in 3 Native American women will be raped, and more than 8 in
10 will experience violence in their lifetimes;
Whereas African-American women experience intimate partner violence at a rate 35
percent higher than that of White women, and about 2.5 times the rate of
women 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;
Whereas in an Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence survey,
16 to 55 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander women reported
experiencing domestic violence (physical, sexual, or both) during their
lifetimes;
Whereas, according to the National Intimate and Sexual Violence Survey, 42.1
percent of Latina women are victimized by intimate partner violence in a
lifetime, defined by rape, physical assault, or stalking;
Whereas one study of 2,000 Latinas found that 63.1 percent of women who
identified being victimized in their lifetime reported having
experienced more than one victimization, with an average of 2.56
victimizations;
Whereas victims of domestic violence report hesitation calling law enforcement
and accessing victims services due to uncertainty arising from fear of
prosecution for unrelated activities, including immigration status;
Whereas the average cost of intimate partner violence over a victim's lifetime
for medical and mental health care services is $103,767 for women and
$23,414 for men;
Whereas of women who die by homicide, 34 percent are killed by an intimate
partner or former intimate partner;
Whereas women victims are more vulnerable to contracting HIV or other STIs due
to forced intercourse or prolonged exposure to stress;
Whereas multiple nationwide studies suggest that there is a relationship between
intimate partner violence and depression and suicidal behavior;
Whereas 21 to 60 percent of domestic violence victims report that they have lost
a job due, at least in part, to domestic violence;
Whereas some domestic violence victims who have protection orders or other
indications that they are victims are evicted or denied access to
housing;
Whereas 1 in 4 homeless women is homeless because of violence committed against
her, and 92 percent of homeless women experience severe physical or
sexual abuse at some point in their lifetimes;
Whereas a review of 12 United States studies, most of which included data from
multiple cities, shows that domestic violence incidents increased 8.1
percent after jurisdictions imposed pandemic-related lockdown orders;
Whereas domestic violence programs and hotlines have seen a substantial increase
in contacts since 2020 and continue to experience a surge in requests
for services, with the National Domestic Violence Hotline averaging
approximately 2,600 daily contacts in 2022, up from 800 to 1,200 average
daily contacts before the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas 13.5 percent of women and 5.2 percent of men report having been stalked
by an intimate partner;
Whereas 81 percent of women who are stalked by a current or former male partner
are also physically abused by that partner;
Whereas of the total domestic violence homicides, about 75 percent of the
victims were killed as they attempted to leave the relationship or after
the relationship had ended;
Whereas between 94 to 99 percent of abusive relationships include financial
abuse, causing the survivors to stay or return to the abusive
relationship;
Whereas more than 8,000,000 days of paid work each year are lost due to domestic
violence issues, and the financial cost of intimate partner violence
exceeds $9,300,000,000 per year;
Whereas 96 percent of employed domestic violence victims experience problems at
work due to abuse;
Whereas 1 in 15 children is exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and
90 percent of these children are eyewitnesses to such violence;
Whereas 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;
Whereas 1 large study found that men exposed to physical abuse, sexual abuse,
and adult domestic violence as children were almost 4 times more likely
than other men to have perpetrated domestic violence as adults;
Whereas 73 percent of male abusers were abused as children;
Whereas 1 in 10 District of Columbia high school students reported experiencing
physical violence from a dating partner in the past year while 5 percent
specified sexual dating violence;
Whereas half of youth who have been victims of both dating violence and rape
attempt suicide, compared to 12.5 percent of nonabused girls and 5.4
percent of nonabused boys;
Whereas there is a need for primary schools, secondary schools, and
postsecondary schools to educate students about the issues of domestic
violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking;
Whereas a recently released multistate study shows that the Nation's domestic
violence shelters are addressing victims' urgent and long-term needs and
are helping victims protect themselves and their children;
Whereas a 2022 survey by the National Network to End Domestic Violence reported
that 79,335 violence victims were served by domestic violence shelters
and programs around the Nation in a single day;
Whereas an additional 12,692 requests for services went unmet that day due to
lack of resources;
Whereas most murdered transgender women are killed by intimate partners;
Whereas transgender individuals are 2.2 times more at risk of physical intimate
partner violence, and 2.5 times more at risk of sexual intimate partner
violence than cisgender individuals;
Whereas a 2018 analysis on the killings of women in 47 major United States
cities during the previous decade found that nearly half (46 percent) of
them died as a result of intimate partner violence;
Whereas 61.1 percent of bisexual women, 43.8 percent of lesbian women, 37.3
percent of bisexual men, and 26 percent of homosexual men experience
intimate partner violence during their lifetimes;
Whereas domestic violence advocates provide lifesaving, essential services;
Whereas there is a need to increase--not reduce--funding for programs aimed at
intervening in and preventing domestic violence in the United States;
and
Whereas October is an appropriate month for the observance of ``National
Domestic Violence Awareness Month'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the ``Original National Domestic
Violence Awareness Month Resolution of 2023''.
SEC. 2. SUPPORTING NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH.
The House of Representatives--
(1) supports the goals and ideals of ``National Domestic
Violence Awareness Month''; and
(2) expresses the sense of the House of Representatives
that Congress should continue to raise awareness of domestic
violence and its devastating effects on individuals, families,
and communities, and support programs designed to end domestic
violence in the United States.
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