By Gabriella Borter
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden was set to announce a suite of grants and initiatives to help combat domestic abuse and support survivors of gender-based violence on Thursday, marking the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act.
Among the Biden-Harris administration’s initiatives will be a resource center run by the Department of Justice to help law enforcement, attorneys and victims service organizations respond to cyber crimes like revenge porn and online stalking, White House Gender Policy Council head Jennifer Klein told reporters.
The Department of Justice will also expand technical assistance for local law enforcement to remove firearms from domestic abusers, and it will announce more than $690 million in fiscal year 2024 grant funding for programs to help communities address gender-based violence, she said.
Klein said the administration would also establish an office of gender-based violence through the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help meet domestic violence survivors’ housing and economic needs.
Biden was scheduled to speak to survivors and advocates at the White House on Thursday evening ahead of the Violence Against Women Act’s 30th anniversary.
He helped craft the 1994 legislation, which criminalized physical abuse against women at the federal level and provided government funding for victim services, advocate training, shelters and prevention education.
The law expired under President Donald Trump in 2019. Biden signed a spending bill that renewed the legislation in 2022.
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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