Bipartisan group of lawmakers pushes DOJ to restore grant opportunities to combat domestic violence

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan duo in the House is leading a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi expressing “deep concern” that the Trump administration has put at risk funding grants for programs that help survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Young Kim, R-Calif., have been collecting signatures for the letter, which was first obtained by NBC News and is backed by more than 100 House members. The letter will be sent to Bondi on Thursday.

In February, the Justice Department’s Office of Violence Against Women removed all notices of grant opportunities for fiscal year 2025 from its website, sparking alarm from nonprofit groups that provide services to abuse victims, Politico reported.

“We write to express our deep concern about reports that the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has withdrawn its Notice of 2025 Funding Opportunities. OVW administers critical grant programs that provide lifesaving support to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking,” the letter reads.

“The sudden withdrawal of these funding opportunities threatens to disrupt essential services, jeopardize the stability of victim assistance programs, and undermine the bipartisan commitment to combating these forms of violence,” it continues. “We respectfully urge the Department of Justice to clarify the status of these grants as soon as possible and take swift action to ensure funding remains available to support survivors and the organizations that serve them.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter is a rare bipartisan rebuke of the Trump administration’s handling of federal funding. Gottheimer is running for governor of New Jersey this year, while Kim is a moderate Republican from Southern California who faces a tough re-election fight next year.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, also signed on to the letter. The signers also include two Republican delegates to the House, Kimberlyn King-Hinds of the Northern Mariana Islands and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa.

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Other Democrats helping with the effort are Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan, a member of the party's leadership in the House, and Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin.

The Office on Violence Against Women was created through the Violence Against Women Act, a bipartisan law known as VAWA, which administers grant programs that provide services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking.

VAWA was signed into law in 1994 and reauthorized several times, most recently in 2022. Democrats have pointed out that at her Senate confirmation hearing, Bondi vowed to “faithfully implement these programs” and “ensure that all programs administered by the Department, including those at OVW, are administered effectively and in accordance with their missions as enacted by Congress.”

The lawmakers wrote in their letter: “A delay or reduction in OVW funding will have devastating consequences for the countless individuals who rely on these resources for safety, legal protection, and recovery. This abrupt withdrawal of funding has created severe uncertainty that threatens the well-being of survivors who cannot afford these delays.

“We ask that the Department clarify its plans to rectify this situation and ensure that OVW grant funding is fully restored without further delay to continue providing care to survivors of domestic violence.”