Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 6.djvu/645

 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS^JUNE 13, 1996 110 STAT. 4467 (1) FINDINGS.— The Senate finds that: (A) Violence against women is the leading cause of physical injury to women. The Department of Justice estimates that over 1 million violent crimes against women are committed by domestic partners annually. (B) Domestic violence dramatically affects the victim's ability to participate in the workforce. A University of Minnesota survey reported that one-quarter of battered women surveyed had lost a job partly because of being abused and that over half of these women had been harassed by their abuser at work. (C) Domestic violence is often intensified as women seek to gain economic independence through attending school or job training programs. Batterers have been reported to prevent women from attending such programs or sabotage their efforts at self-improvement. (D) Nationwide surveys of service providers prepared by the Taylor Institute of Chicago, document, for the first time, the interrelationship between domestic violence and welfare by showing that between 50 percent and 80 percent of women in welfare-to-work programs are current or past victims of domestic violence. (E) The American Psychological Association has reported that violence against women is usually witnessed by their children, who as a result can suffer severe psychological, cognitive and physical damage and some studies have found that children who witness violence in their homes have a greater propensity to commit violent acts in their homes and communities when they become adults. (F) Over half of the women surveyed by the Taylor Institute stayed with their batterers because they lacked the resources to support themselves and their children. The surveys also found that the availability of economic support is a critical factor in women's ability to leave abusive situations that threaten themselves and their children. (G) Proposals to restructure the welfare programs may impact the availability of the economic support and the safety net necessary to enable poor women to flee abuse without risking homelessness and starvation for their families. (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—I t is the sense of Congress that: (A) No welfare reform provision should be enacted by Congress unless and until Congress considers whether such welfare reform provisions would exacerbate violence against women and their children, further endanger women's lives, make it more difficult for women to escape domestic violence, or further punish women victimized by violence. (B) Any welfare reform measure enacted by Congress should require that any welfare-to-work, education, or job placement programs implemented by the States address the impact of domestic violence on welfare recipients. SEC. 413, SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING STUDENT LOANS. (a) FINDINGS.— -Congress finds that^

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