The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (NTF), a coalition of national and Tribal organizations advocating on behalf of victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking across the country, strongly opposes the Department of Justice’s proposal to consolidate the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), and the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) into a single grantmaking bureau. By subsuming OVW into a broader grantmaking bureau, this proposal would violate federal statute and weaken the dedicated federal response Congress specifically created to address the four crimes under the Violence Against Women Act. It would also undermine the focused expertise, accountability, and coordination needed to support survivors and strengthen community responses.
For more than 25 years, the NTF has worked to ensure that federal, Tribal, state, and local laws and policies effectively address these pervasive forms of violence. This work includes close collaboration with Congress to strengthen the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) through each reauthorization, as well as a partnership with OVW to provide expert input from the field, elevate best practices, and support the successful implementation of VAWA in communities nationwide.
Congress intentionally created each DOJ grantmaking office as a separate and distinct entity to ensure that federal grant programs are implemented responsibly and consistent with their statutory purpose. Each office serves a different function, supports distinct stakeholders, and requires focused expertise. This structure reflects decades of bipartisan policymaking to ensure federal investments are responsive, accountable, and effective.
This is especially true for OVW. Congress established OVW within the Department of Justice and expressly required that it remain a “separate and distinct office,” “not subsumed by any other office,” with its Director retaining final authority over OVW grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. 34 U.S.C. § 10442(a)–(b). Congress also gave OVW sole jurisdiction over its statutory duties and responsibility for coordinating activities authorized under VAWA and its reauthorizations. 34 U.S.C. § 10442(c). That statutory structure reflects Congress’s judgment that domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking require dedicated federal leadership, focused expertise, and sustained national attention. OVW has also been central to federal efforts to address violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women, including through VAWA provisions recognizing Tribes’ sovereign authority to protect their communities and hold offenders accountable. Consolidating OVW into a broader grantmaking bureau would undermine the focused federal response Congress and the field deliberately created.
Despite claims that consolidating OVW, the COPS Office, and OJP would improve efficiency, it is more likely to have the opposite effect. The proposed Bureau of Justice Grants would be led by a new Assistant Attorney General, creating an additional layer of authority above the existing leaders of OVW, the COPS Office, and OJP, rather than streamlining decision-making. For OVW, this structure would undercut the statutory authority of the OVW Director to exercise final decisions over the Office’s grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts.
Organizations are already facing significant delays in DOJ grant funding due to additional layers of political review, forcing some programs to lay off staff, curb services, or operate with deep financial uncertainty. Consolidation would only compound these challenges. It would also dilute OVW’s congressionally assigned role as the federal office charged with developing and managing VAWA grant programs, coordinating with other DOJ components and federal agencies, and supporting consistent federal policy and practice on these crimes. By subsuming OVW into a broader grantmaking bureau, the proposal would undermine OVW’s effectiveness and increase the risk that these crimes and the needs of victims will be deprioritized or overshadowed by competing DOJ priorities.
The need for a strong and independent OVW has never been more clear. Communities continue to face escalating needs, from high rates of domestic violence homicides to increasingly complex challenges for those seeking safety and support.
This proposal is not simply an internal DOJ reorganization. It would have real and lasting consequences for lifesaving services and for the nation’s ability to respond to these crimes with the urgency they demand. DOJ must preserve OVW as the separate and distinct office required by statute, not diminish the authority, focus, and accountability Congress created when that leadership is needed most.