THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming and welcome to the White
House. In a few moments, I will sign a proclamation naming October
National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I do so to focus attention
on this urgent and very important issue. I will announce two new
initiatives we are launching to combat domestic violence in our
country.
A home, a family should be a place of support, should be a peaceful
place -- not a place of cruelty and brutality. Domestic violence
betrays the most basic duties of life, it violates the law, it's wrong,
it is a crime that must be confronted by individuals, by communities
and by government.
All of you here today have taken up the vital cause -- the really
important cause -- of defending the vulnerable from domestic violence.
Too often its victims suffer in secret and in silence. You make it
easier for them to step out of the shadows and get the help and love
they need. Your compassion is saving lives. Your country is
grateful. Thank you for what you do.
I appreciate Tommy Thompson being here. He's the Secretary of
Health and Human Services. Many of the initiatives on family violence
come from his department. As governor of Wisconsin, he made a name for
dealing with domestic violence, and has carried his passion, as have I,
to Washington, D.C. to help.
I appreciate Jack Potter, who is the Postmaster General. There's a
reason he is here -- it has something to do with a stamp that I'll be
describing here. (Laughter.) I appreciate very much Diane Stuart, the
Director of the Office of Violence Against Women, from the Department
of Justice. Thank you for coming. Thank you for being a leader.
We've got a special senator here with us today, a person who flew
all the way back from his home state of Colorado. He's here because he
sponsored the legislation creating the Stop Family Violence stamp. I'm
honored that you've come back, Senator Campbell. Ben Nighthorse
Campbell is a compassionate, decent human being and I'm proud to call
him, friend. Thanks for coming.
I want to thank Sheryl Kates, who is the executive director of the
National Domestic Violence Hotline and the Texas Council on Family
Violence. She's on the stage with me. The hotline received its
one-millionth call in August. That's a lot of calls, but it's a lot of
help, as well. And I want to thank Sheryl for being here -- my fellow
Texan. (Laughter.) Lynn Rosenthal is the executive director of the
National Network to End Domestic Violence. Lynn is with us, as well,
here. Thank you for coming. And Rita Smith, the executive director of
the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, is on the stage, as
well. These three women are leaders in the attempt to make somebody's
life better, and I really appreciate you all coming.
As well, we've got Monique Blais is with us today. Monique brought
her mother, Marci, to the White House. (Laughter.) The reason Monique
is here is that she designed the art work for the Stop Family Violence
stamp. And I really appreciate your talents, and when people see the
stamp they'll -- when I say "talent," they'll know what I mean when I
say "talent," because it's really a great piece of work. We want to
thank you for coming. And I want to thank you all for being here.
Domestic violence cuts across every line of geography and income.
Abuse is found in every community in our country -- every community --
and it must be fought in every community. Hundreds of thousands of
incidents of domestic violence are reported every year. The sad news
is, many go unreported. About a third of women murdered each year in
America are killed by this type of violence. And nearly half the
households where domestic violence occurs also has a child under 12
years old. There's more than one victim.
Women and children are facing dangers in this country, and they
need strong allies. That's what we're here to talk about. I'm not
only here to thank you for being strong allies, I'm asking others
around our country to work with the people here. There's plenty of
opportunities for our fellow citizens to step forth and be a partner in
helping save and heal lives.
Fortunately, there are people, victims who can find help. That's
the good news about America. The bad news is there's too much domestic
violence. The good news is, people can find help. Faith-based and
community groups provide refuge and counseling and good legal advice.
And a lot of time, an abused woman needs good, solid legal advice.
Industry groups are recycling old cell phones. It's an interesting
contribution, isn't it? They're saying, here's an opportunity for you
to be able to call to get help. Lifetime television -- I know some
folks representing Lifetime television are here -- is promoting
domestic violence awareness in its programming and public service
campaigns, and we thank you for that. Part of making sure that we help
save lives is to educate people about the opportunities available.
Business Strengthening America is a private organization of
business leaders who are responding to a call I gave them earlier,
after September the 11th. I said, why don't you become an active
participant, as responsible business leaders, in helping meet our
society's needs? They've joined forces with Corporate Alliance to End
Partner Violence. Those two groups are working to raise awareness of
the issues in the workplace, and as importantly, they're encouraging
employees to become volunteers in the effort to help those who have
been abused.
I want to thank the responsible corporate leaders in America for
hearing the call that in a responsible society you've got to behave
responsibly yourself, and encourage others to follow their heart.
The fight against domestic violence is a national movement. I urge
people to join the movement. Part of an awareness month is not only
making people aware, but a call to service. Today all of us up here
are calling people to service, to serve your community and your
country. If you want to love your neighbor like you'd like to be loved
yourself, there's ample opportunity to do so in the fight against
domestic violence.
Our government is engaged in the fight, as it should be.
Government has got a duty to treat domestic violence as a serious
crime, as part of our duty. If you treat something as a serious crime,
then there must be serious consequences; otherwise it's not very
serious. Last year federal prosecutors for violence against women
crimes increased -- federal prosecutions increased by 35 percent. Our
prosecutors are doing their job. They're finding the abusers, and
they're throwing the book at them. And that's important.
People who commit must understand with certainty there is a
consequence. One way to change behavior is to make it clear to people
in our society, if you break the law, if you beat up a woman, if you
abuse your wife, you will be held to account. There must be certainty
in the law, and we must have prosecutors who understand that we expect
them to be tough. And they are.
The administration has also increased funding for the Justice
Department's violence against women programs by $100 million this
year. We're now spending money at the highest levels in our nation's
history, and it's money well spent. Programs which help local
communities combat domestic violence and sexual assault and stalking,
and helps the victims of those crimes are now funded at $390 million a
year. And I want to thank Ben and the member of the Congress for
working to see that our appropriations request was met.
I'm going to talk about two other measures that I think will help
in the fight against domestic violence. First, I've directed $20
million in 2004 to help communities create family justice centers,
where victims of domestic violence can find the services they need in
one place, one central location. Too often, the services designed to
help victims are uncoordinated and scattered throughout communities.
Imagine what it would be like if you were an abused person trying
to find help and you went from one place to another. With laws and
police and all the rules of a regulations of a free society, it must be
confusing and disheartening. The victim has been so traumatized, and
then she has to tell her story over and over again, which repeats the
trauma. There's a better way to do this. There's a better way to help
people who need help in our society.
San Diego figured it out. They've got a city attorney named Casey
Gwinn -- who's right there -- who recognized that there's a more
compassionate way to help people who have been abused. And so he did
something about it. He created what's called the San Diego Family
Justice Center. It's a full-service center for domestic violence
victims, where police officers and prosecutors and probation officers
and civil attorneys and counselors and doctors and victims advocates
and chaplains all come together to help somebody. The runaround is
over in San Diego. There's a central location where somebody who
desperately needs help can find compassion and help.
Victims can pick up food vouchers; they can get help with
transportation; they can file for a temporary restraining order against
their abusers; they can sign up for supervised visitation programs to
keep their children safe; they can get their cell phone there. They
can find help.
The San Diego Family Justice Center opened a year ago. It has
already served thousands of victims. They tell me the story of Caitlin
Effgen, who is a brave woman who lives in San Diego. It's probably,
unfortunately, a typical story I'm about to tell you. What's atypical
is that she found help in a brand new way of helping victims of
domestic violence. Her boyfriend started hitting her. She tried to
break up with him and he began to stalk her. In other words, he was
not only abusing her one way, he decided to abuse her another, as
well. And she went to the authorities and got a restraining order,
which, as the experts will tell you, sometimes it works and sometimes
it didn't -- because, in her case, the boyfriend continued to harass
her, just wouldn't leave her alone.
You can imagine the fear she felt. He plead guilty to charges, but
he still stalked and haunted her mind. And then she discovered the
center. They helped her get counseling. They got another restraining
order. A victim's advocate joined her and her dad in court. She got
all the help she needed. I can imagine the relief that she must have
felt when somebody who heard the call to love a neighbor, did just
that.
The guy ended up in -- behind bars, which is the right thing to
do. I congratulate the San Diego law enforcement officers. But more
important, she got to remember what life was like without her misery.
Those are her words, not mine. She found compassion. The funding I've
set aside will help begin a national movement toward more of these
centers. Twelve will be funded through this initiative. When they
work, there's another twelve, and maybe even more. Maybe we can
escalate the request. But the point is, we have found what can work in
order to provide efficient help to channel the compassion so somebody
can get their life back together. So I want to thank you for coming,
Casey. Good job. You're doing your duty as a public servant.
(Applause.)
The second initiative will expand the good work of community and
faith-based groups as they provide counseling and mentoring and other
services to children who have witnessed domestic violence. The
children who witness domestic violence are prone to depression and
anxiety. That's natural. You could imagine what it would be like for
a little child to witness such an act. They need help and love. We
have a moral obligation in our society to help relieve the suffering
and to show that there is a better life.
I like to remind people, you know, that -- I wish government could
make people love one another. I would sign the piece of legislation.
(Laughter.) But I know there are loving people who are willing to
love. It's a -- by the way, a lot of times it's from a higher law,
it's not the law of government. And so what we want to do is spend $5
billion -- $ 5 million this year on initiatives -- (laughter and
applause.) A million here, a million there -- (laughter.) Let's start
small -- what do you think -- (laughter) -- to start an initiative
called Safe and Bright Futures for Children. That's what we want to
start. The Department of Health and Human Services will provide
funding to community and faith-based groups to help children escape the
cycle of violence, to get counseling, to get mentoring, to become
involved in healthy activities like sports or scouting or community
services.
The money will support programs at sites all across America. We
believe it will be -- make a difference in lives. One such program is
run by the Reverend Cheryle Albert, who is with us today. She works
with Safe Haven Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence in
Boston, Massachusetts. Probably rooting for the Red Sox, aren't you?
(Laughter.) She teaches congregations about domestic violence. She
helps train them to help troubled families through crisis intervention
and counseling. Here's what she says: "The power behind domestic
violence is that it's a secret. We work with the faith community
because we feel it's the best way to break the silence."
When men and women face violence and injustice, it is important for
our government to understand that oftentimes, they turn to their
churches or synagogues or mosques for help -- as they should. These
are places of love. They exist because of love. They are wise to do
so, and our government should not fear the faith-based programs which
help save lives. Matter of fact, we ought to welcome the faith-based
programs into helping people who suffer. (Applause.)
Oftentimes, it requires faith to help heal a heart and to help
bring a future, a bright future into some child's life. This
initiative welcomes the faith-based programs all across our society.
This initiative takes taxpayers' money to encourage faith-based
programs to become important partners in the fight against domestic
violence.
I am not the least bit hesitant to encourage our government to use
federal tax money to rally the armies of compassion which exist in
every society in America. We must not fear faith in America. We must
welcome faith in America to help solve our problems. (Applause.)
Now, to the stamp. And the stamp will be placed out in the hall;
you can see it on the way out. The Safe and Bright Futures Program
will be supported by the sales of the stamp. There have been three
such stamps. This is the third where the revenues collected from the
sales of the stamps, designed by one of our nation's budding artists --
(laughter) -- will be -- will use that money. And as I understand it,
the stamp is for sale today? That's why the head of the Post Office is
here. (Laughter.)
And so anybody who wants to support effective programs in our fight
against domestic violence ought to buy the stamp. The money goes to
these programs. And it's a great way for people to use the mail and to
express their desires to make their communities a better place.
I want to thank you all for coming today. I want to thank you for
your commitment. For those who are involved with saving lives, it's a
hard job. It's got to be hard to provide a shoulder on to which
someone can cry, or a sympathetic ear for some child who wonders what
their future is like. That can only be accomplished, however, when
loving Americans hear the call. If any American is interested in
serving, one good way to do so is to become involved in these programs
that are saving lives as the result of the brutal crime of domestic
violence.
The strength of our country is not our military, it's not our
wallet -- the strength of our country is the heart and soul of the
American people. And today I'm honored to be in the presence of
Americans who serve your country and your community by helping people
who have been hurt.
May God bless your work. May God bless those who are victims of
domestic violence. And may God continue to bless our country. Thank
you. (Applause.)