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Committee presses DOJ on cuts to violence-against-women programs and cancelled grants
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Summary
Senators, including Susan Collins and Patty Murray, pressed Attorney General Bondi about proposed reductions to the Office on Violence Against Women, termination of hundreds of grants and delayed notices of funding opportunities that advocates say have left local service providers at risk.
Chairwoman Susan Collins told Attorney General Pamela Bondi that the department's FY2026 budget proposal would reduce funding for the Office on Violence Against Women from approximately $713,000,000 in fiscal 2025 to about $505,000,000 in fiscal 2026 — a reduction described in the hearing as nearly 30% and including cuts to transitional housing assistance, sexual-assault services and rural victims programs.
Collins asked whether the cut was imposed by the Office of Management and Budget and what the department's plan was to preserve services to survivors. Bondi said the budget includes $505,000,000 to prevent and respond to violence against women, characterizing the request as a "leaner budget" and pledging to "do everything in our power to fight for victims of domestic violence throughout this country." She urged senators to work with the department to improve funding outcomes.
Separately, senators raised the abrupt termination in April of hundreds of public-safety grants that had been awarded and obligated, and concerns that notices of funding opportunities for FY2025 remained largely unpublished. Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen and Senator Patty Murray said the Office of Justice Programs had posted only one notice for FY2025 at the time of the hearing and that grantee organizations had reported running out of FY2025 funds.
Bondi said notices of funding opportunities would be posted "in coming weeks" on a rolling basis and that the department had an appeal process for grants that were cut. She invited senators to refer specific grants to her office for further review, saying, "If we did cut a grant that you care about that is specific to your state, please contact me." Murray said statutory protections establish OVW as a separate office and pressed Bondi to commit to maintain OVW as a separate grant entity; Bondi said she would "follow the law" but reiterated that the administration planned consolidation under OJP and that she would not knowingly cut services that would harm victims.
Why it matters: senators warned that delays and terminations of grant funding have forced community providers to cut staff and services. The subcommittee requested more information from DOJ about the number of grants still held or withheld and asked for a transparent process to resolve withheld, previously obligated awards.
Ending: The committee asked DOJ for written follow-up on the status of terminated grants, the timeline for NOFO postings, and the department's plans to administer victim-services funding if consolidations proceed.
