Press Releases

WASHINGTON—Last Friday, Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, along with Representative Grace Meng (D-NY) of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, were joined by 42 other Members of Congress in sending a letter urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to restore policy and programming to counter sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) globally.

“Congress has recognized SGBV as a national security issue and passed several pertinent bills signed into law by presidents of both parties, including President Trump,” wrote the Members of Congress. “Despite these requirements, the current Trump Administration has defunded programs, terminated staff, and eliminated the structures responsible for preventing and responding to SGBV.”

The letter notes that while Secretary Rubio has testified that he is “not abandoning women’s issues,” the Trump Administration eliminated the State Department’s Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, failed to integrate USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment office into the State Department, terminated an estimated $400 million in SGBV programs through the closure of USAID, and cancelled “Safe from the Start” award programming.

In the letter, the Members of Congress note that, “In the past year alone, conflict-related sexual violence has been employed as a tactic of war in twenty-one countries, destabilizing governance across whole regions by prompting mass displacement and eroding social cohesion. Lack of accountability for SGBV perpetuates volatility and conflict while inhibiting U.S.-led negotiations and efforts to reach durable peace.” 

Specifically, the letter asks Secretary Rubio a series of questions to address:

• Status of the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence; and/or plans to spend $187.5 million in Fiscal Year 2026 on such a strategy;  

• Enumeration of the offices and staff working on preventing and responding to SGBV as part of their job description, and of the meetings with women’s organizations and civil society working to address SGBV; 
• List of active and eliminated SGBV programs; 
• Explanation for how the Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response works to integrate SGBV prevention and response into its programming;
• Status of the required report on WPS Act Implementation Act. 

Other members who signed the letter include Senators Angela D. Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-OR), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Adam B. Schiff (D-CA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), as well as Representatives Becca Balint (D-VT), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-FL), Sylvia R. Garcia (D-TX), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Val Hoyle (D-OR), Jonathan L. Jackson (D-IL), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), Sarah McBride (D-DE), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Emily Randall (D-WA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), James R. Walkinshaw (D-VA), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and Maxine Waters (D-CA).

The full text of the letter is available here.