The Department of Justice has Congressionally appropriated money for domestic violence survivors sitting in an account, and it simply will not hand it over.

"This funding isn't optional, it's lifesaving, and I will keep pushing until every penny reaches survivors."

— Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), on the DOJ's refusal to disburse $150 million in violence-against-women grants

The Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women is sitting on $150 million that Congress already approved, and it has not released the money to the organizations that need it. The funds were appropriated for fiscal year 2025. Eight months after the statutory distribution deadline of October 1, gender-based violence programs across the country are operating in limbo: laying off staff, reducing hours, and turning survivors away because they cannot afford basic services like hotel rooms or 24-hour hotlines.

The 19th contacted more than 250 organizations that have previously received federal grants from the Office on Violence Against Women to document what happens when Congress appropriates money but the executive branch refuses to spend it. Forty-eight responded. The vast majority declined to speak on the record, citing fear of retaliation from the administration.

Translation: the people who run domestic violence shelters are afraid to talk about being defunded by their own government.

Our Sister's House in Pierce County, Washington, used to staff a 24-hour hotline for survivors of gender-based violence. The organization has served Black survivors for 30 years in a county that has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the state. Now, if someone calls overnight or on the weekend, no one answers.

Executive director Kelli Robinson says she is still waiting to hear back about two grant applications she submitted last year. The deadline was July 29. The Office on Violence Against Women has not reported any awardees for that program. When employees leave for jobs offering basic benefits like a cost of living adjustment, Robinson says the positions are eliminated because there is no money to replace them. She has gone without pay herself.

"We can't see as many people," Robinson said. "Clients call, but we can't respond right away anymore."

The organization coordinates with local teams to assist survivors at immediate risk of death. But it cannot afford hotel rooms anymore. Robinson has asked the local YWCA to hold a shelter bed for high-risk situations, though the YWCA does not accept pets or boys over 12. She is leveraging her personal network to find places for survivors to stay, coordinating with local clergy and law enforcement.

The Victim Rights Law Center in Massachusetts provides civil legal support to sexual assault survivors and trains lawyers who represent young victims still in school. Its grant ends September 30. The funding opportunity it needs to apply for has not been released yet. Executive director Stacy Malone has already laid off two staff members. If the money does not come, she says the center will likely have to end its national training program entirely, and many lawyers will refuse to take complicated sexual assault cases involving minors without that support.

The center has fielded at least 65 requests for help from attorneys representing children this year alone. Over 600 attorneys are registered for next month's training on disability accommodations for K-12 student survivors.

"I know it's hard for some people to imagine that a 12-year-old needs their own lawyer," Malone said, "but if they've been sexually assaulted by a classmate, and they want to stay safely in school, they need someone to advocate for them."

The Office on Violence Against Women has distributed $50 million in grants since The 19th first reported on April 9 that over $200 million in 2025 appropriations had not been disbursed. That leaves $150 million unaccounted for, with applications submitted more than a year ago receiving no status updates and fiscal year 2026 grant programs still not released.

Congress has asked about the missing money repeatedly. On March 6, leaders of the House Bipartisan Working Group on Domestic Violence sent a letter to then-deputy attorney general Todd Blanche urging the release of funds. They never received a response. Blanche is now acting attorney general.

During a Senate hearing on May 19, senators from both parties pressed him. When Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) asked directly about the missing fiscal year 2025 funds, Blanche said applications are coming out on a "rolling basis" and that they are "working every day very hard to get that money out."

No evidence of that work has materialized since. The Department of Justice continues to resist congressional inquiries about where the money is.

The withholding of these grants sits within a broader pattern of shrinking support for crime victims. The Crime Victims Fund, established by the Victims of Crime Act, has steadily decreased over the past decade. Federal funding for violence-against-women programs has always been critical precisely because local and state resources are so limited. When Congress appropriates money and the executive branch sits on it, the result is not a bureaucratic delay. It is a gap in the safety net that survivors fall through.

In late April, during National Sexual Violence Awareness Month, Malone helped organize a petition demanding the release of stalled funds. Over 80 organizations and 200 individuals signed on. The National Network to End Domestic Violence has been encouraging the public to pressure lawmakers for answers.

But the fear among service providers is palpable. When 48 out of 250 contacted organizations are willing to share their stories, and the rest decline for fear of retaliation, it signals that the administration's approach extends beyond budget management. It is a chilling effect on the very people whose job is to protect victims.

Congress passed Violence Against Women Act reauthorizations with bipartisan support because domestic violence does not respect party lines. The appropriations were written into law. The money belongs to survivors, not to the discretion of an administration that apparently views victim services as expendable.

The question is no longer whether this withholding was intentional. Todd Blanche testified under oath that his department is "working every day very hard" while $150 million sits untouched and hotlines go unanswered. The question now is what happens when survivors who need help tonight find out there is no one on the other end of the line.