Biden to announce new efforts to curb gender-based violence

President Joe Biden on Thursday will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act by announcing new efforts to curb gender-based violence, senior administration officials said.

Biden will address survivors, advocates and allies on the South Lawn at an event commemorating the law, senior administration officials said on a call with reporters.

Jennifer Klein, a Biden aide and director of the White House's Gender Policy Council, which Biden established in 2021 to advance gender equality, said the Justice Department will announce a series of efforts to support survivors of gender-based violence, including $690 million in grant funding for this year, and plans for a new national resource center to tackle cyber crimes.

The resource center will be aimed at helping law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and victim services groups tackle cybercrimes against people, including cyber stalking and the sharing of intimate images without consent, Klein said.

The Justice Department also plans to bolster federal funding for state and local law enforcement agencies, said Klein, who said it will expand funding opportunities to strengthen programs that remove firearms from people who face misdemeanor convictions for domestic abuse or are subject to protective orders.

Klein said the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday will also announce a new office targeting gender-based violence that will help survivors get secure housing and economic stability.

Biden is seeking to cement his record in the final months of his term in office after he dropped out of the presidential race in June.

In 2022, he signed a law reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, which he first introduced when he was a senator in 1990.

The initial legislation, which was passed through a bipartisan crime bill in 1994, included the first National Domestic Violence Hotline.

The expanded 2022 legislation included provisions to protect against harassment and abuse online.

Biden's American Rescue Plan also included investments targeting gender-based violence. The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act program reported that roughly $1 billion in supplemental funding has supported 252 tribes, 1,500 domestic violence programs and 1,400 sexual assault programs.