good afternoon everybody after hi okay so for over 30 years combat combating gender-based violence has been the Cornerstone of President Biden's career when Joe Biden was growing up his father used to say to him that the cardinal sin was abuse of power and that includes a man raising his hand to a woman or a child when he was a young man and serving as a US senator he saw how Society looked away from violence against women few police departments had Special Victims Unit many states had laws on the books that protected the abusers rather than the victims more often than not marital rape wasn't considered a crime there was no National hotline to call women's shelters were referred to as indoctrination centers all of this was completely unacceptable to Joe Biden it's why in 1990 then Senator Biden wrote The Landmark legislation the violence against women act vawa to protect women from domestic violence stalking and sexual assault but we knew that wasn't enough so as chairman or he knew that wasn't enough so as chairman of the of the Senate Judiciary Committee he held public hearings on violence against women where courageous survivors shared stories of horrific horrific violence and his committee published groundbreaking reports on the impact of violence against women documenting this tragedy in a way that policy makers could not ignore it took years of building awareness legislative expertise and perseverance perseverance by Senator Biden by then Senator Biden in 1994 V while past Congress for decades he has worked across the aisle to strengthen it as president he continued to expand his signature legislation using every legislative and administrative Avenue to address gender-based violence during his presidency and today to keep building on his proudest legislative achievement Joe Biden is announcing new actions to combat gender based violence a total of more than $690 million in new funds to support survivors of gender-based violence guidance on new protections to meet the housing needs of survivors of domestic violence sexual violence Dating Violence and stalking a new National Resource Center on Cyber crimes against individuals to help law enforcement and community-based organizations prevent enfor enforce and prosecute cyber crimes new private sector commitments to take on the non-consensual sharing of intimate images and cyber crimes against individuals and new actions to support law enforcement in removing guns from domestic abusers the president is proud that between 1993 and 2022 annual domestic violence rates dropped by 67% and the rate of rapes and sexual assault declined by 56% it is one of the reasons why Joe Biden calls it his proudest legislative achievement but he knows there is more work to do so it is why today his new actions are so so important as the president said and I quote today as we Mark three decades since we passed into law the violence against women act we celebrate our progress while recommitting to the work ahead also the president and his senior team are closely monitoring the impacts of Francine as it moves through the s to the Southern United States FEMA administrator chriswell is currently in Louisiana she will meet with state and local officials survey damages and provide an update on our response efforts before Francine made landfall the president approve Governor Landry's of Louisiana's request for an emergency declaration which unlocked Federal federal assistance to help support life-saving and life sustaining efforts over 700 Federal Personnel including 128 Urban search and rescue Personnel are in Louisiana and ready to support any emergency response requests from the state FEMA has also prepositioned more than 750,000 meals 1.2 million lers of water to support the needs of survivors we continue to encourage those who are in the path of Francine to stay alert visit ready.gov for tips on how to stay safe and follow the recommendations of state and local officials the Biden Harris Administration stands ready to provide additional support to impacted areas as necessary