On March 30, the House approved, by voice vote, a bill (H.R. 3036) to reauthorize the Department of Justice (DOJ) through FY2006. The House Judiciary Committee approved the measure on September 10 (see The Source, 9/12/03).
Sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), H.R. 3036 would authorize $19.2 billion for the DOJ in FY2004, $20.1 billion in FY2005, and $20.4 billion in FY2006. The measure also would authorize $13.6 million for the Office on Violence Against Women in FY2004, $13.8 million in FY2005, and $14.1 million in FY2006.
Under the bill, the Byrne Grant Program and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant would be consolidated into the new Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program. In FY2004, the program would be authorized at $1.1 billion.
H.R. 3036 would make technical clarifications about how states and local authorities may use grants provided under the Violence Against Women Act. In addition, grants that are used to enforce domestic violence cases would be expanded to include sexual assault cases.
In a statement submitted for the Congressional Record, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) expressed her concern that the DOJ discriminates in its hiring practices against women and minorities. She noted that of the current 94 U.S. Marshals, only 35 are women or minorities. Rep. Jackson Lee also cited a study by the Office of Personnel Management that found “While African-Americans generally exceeded their relevant civilian labor force representation in 16 Federal executive departments, less than 16 percent of those employed by the DOJ were African-Americans. And while the DOJ consisted of 37.7 percent women, the number was over 9 percent unrepresentative of what it should have been based on hiring practices of women in the civilian work force.”
