Las Vegas, Nev. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) attended a Domestic Violence Awareness Month program hosted by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe Social Services and the Moapa Band of Paiutes Vocational Rehabilitation Project INPUT. The gathering included dramatic performances, poetry, dance and moving testimony to empower survivors and community members to discuss the impacts of domestic violence.
“Tonight’s program was a sobering reminder that far too many in our tribal communities experience domestic violence each year. We must do more to honor our trust relationship with our native communities by ensuring tribal leaders are empowered to keep their communities safe, working to craft legislation to help prevent domestic violence and providing support services for Native American survivors. As Nevada’s Attorney General, one of my key missions was to protect women like those I heard from tonight, and I will continue my fight in the Senate by advocating for native survivors at the federal level.”
BACKGROUND:
Senator Cortez Masto is a sponsor and cosponsor of numerous bills addressing the crisis of domestic violence and human trafficking on tribal land. She recently introduced the bipartisan End Trafficking of Native Americans Act of 2018, which would establish an advisory committee on human trafficking comprised of law enforcement, tribal leaders, and service providers to make recommendations to the DOI and DOJ on how to best coordinate efforts to combat human trafficking of Native Americans and Alaska Natives. She has also cosponsored Savanna’s Act to address the crisis of missing and murdered Native women and the Native Youth and Tribal Officer Protection Act to support children and law enforcement personnel involved in domestic violence incidents on Tribal lands.
Cortez Masto also introduced a bipartisan amendment included in the recent minibus funding agreement that requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on federal efforts to study the prevalence of traumatic brain injuries among victims of domestic violence.
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