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SENT BY FAX AND E-MAIL June 8, 2000
The United States Senate has the opportunity to move on two JCPA legislative priorities in the next few days: the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the Violence Against Women Act. In the case of the former, Senator Edward Kennedy (MA) intends to offer HCPA as an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations bill. This measure could see action on the Senate floor as early as this week. Likewise, Senator Joseph Biden (DE) is expected to offer the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as an amendment to the same bill. We ask that you contact Senators immediately and urge them to support Senator Kennedy’s Hate Crimes Prevention Act amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill; also urge Senators to adopt the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act would strengthen the federal government's ability to investigate and prosecute hate crimes and expand federal hate crimes law to include acts motivated by the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, or disability. Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act would sustain programs created under the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA), which have already made a difference in thousands of women’s lives – bolstering prosecution of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse, increasing victim services, increasing resources for law enforcement, and creating a National Domestic Violence Hotline. Please refer to the JCPA Action Alert of 4-12-00 for additional background. For more information on either of these bills, please contact Reva Price (rprice@thejcpa.org) or Jonah Goldman (jonah@thejcpa.org) in the JCPA Washington Office (202.293.1649). |
