WASHINGTON, D.C. – Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) announced Senate passage of the fiscal year 2010 CJS Appropriations Bill. The funding bill provides a record $435 million in funding for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Violence Against Women Office. This funding will support programs authorized through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which Senator Mikulski helped pass into law.

“When we fought for the Violence Against Women Act, it was not an unfunded mandate. I led the fight to put these programs in the federal law books, and I will continue to fight to put the funding they need in the federal checkbook,” Chairwoman Mikulski said. “I have absolutely no tolerance for domestic violence. That’s why I strongly support legislation and grant programs that help protect women and their families from continued violence and abuse, and gives them the tools they need to rebuild their lives.”

Domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking are crimes of epidemic proportions, exacting terrible costs on individual lives and our communities. Twenty-five percent of U.S. women report that they have been physically assaulted by an intimate partner during their lifetimes, one in six have been the victims of attempted or completed rape. The cost of domestic violence exceeds $5.8 billion each year.

The CJS bill funds multiple competitive grant programs that support training for police officers and prosecutors; state domestic violence and sexual assault coalition grants; rape prevention programs; national domestic violence hotlines; grants for battered women’s shelters and transitional housing support services; victims of child abuse grants; and funding for counselors of rape victims during trials.

In the next step of the appropriations process, the House and Senate will work out the differences between their versions of the bill, which will then be approved a final time by both legislative bodies before being signed into law.