[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2661 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2661

To curtail the use of changes in mandatory programs affecting the Crime 
                   Victims Fund to inflate spending.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 27, 2023

  Mr. Braun (for himself, Mr. Lankford, and Mr. Cruz) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                               the Budget

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To curtail the use of changes in mandatory programs affecting the Crime 
                   Victims Fund to inflate spending.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fairness for Crime Victims Act of 
2023''.

SEC. 2. POINT OF ORDER AGAINST CERTAIN CHANGES IN MANDATORY PROGRAMS 
              AFFECTING THE CRIME VICTIMS FUND.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the Crime Victims Fund was created in 1984, with the 
        support of overwhelming bipartisan majorities in the House of 
        Representatives and the Senate and the support of President 
        Ronald Reagan, who signed the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 
        (Public Law 98-473) into law;
            (2) the Crime Victims Fund was created based on the 
        principle that funds the Federal Government collects from those 
        convicted of crime should be used to aid those who have been 
        victimized by crime;
            (3) the Crime Victims Fund is funded from fines, penalties, 
        and forfeited bonds in Federal court and private donations;
            (4) the Crime Victims Fund receives no taxpayer dollars;
            (5) Federal law provides that funds deposited into the 
        Crime Victims Fund shall be used to provide services to victims 
        of crime in accordance with the Victims of Crime Act of 1984;
            (6) the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 gives priority to 
        victims of child abuse, sexual assault, and domestic violence;
            (7) since fiscal year 2000, Congress has been accounting 
        for funds collected by the Crime Victims Fund, but not 
        disbursing the full amount provided for under the Victims of 
        Crime Act of 1984;
            (8) over $10,000,000,000 has been withheld from victims of 
        child abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and other 
        crimes;
            (9) from fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2014, the 
        Crime Victims Fund collected $12,000,000,000, but Congress 
        disbursed only $3,600,000,000 (or 30 percent) to victims of 
        crime;
            (10) since fiscal year 2015, Congress has increased 
        disbursals from the Crime Victims Fund to victims of crime, but 
        a permanent solution is necessary to ensure consistent 
        disbursals to victims of crime who rely on these funds every 
        year;
            (11) under budget rules, Congress represents that the money 
        it has already spent in prior years is still in the Crime 
        Victims Fund and available for victims of crime;
            (12) it is time to restore fairness to crime victims; and
            (13) funds collected by the Crime Victims Fund should be 
        used for services to and compensation of crime victims in 
        accordance with the Victims of Crime Act of 1984.
    (b) Amendment.--Title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 
U.S.C. 651 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

   ``PART C--ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS ON BUDGETARY AND APPROPRIATIONS 
                              LEGISLATION

``SEC. 441. POINT OF ORDER AGAINST CHANGES IN MANDATORY PROGRAMS 
              AFFECTING THE CRIME VICTIMS FUND.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `CHIMP' means a provision that--
                    ``(A) would have been estimated as affecting direct 
                spending or receipts under section 252 of the Balanced 
                Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 
                U.S.C. 902) (as in effect prior to September 30, 2002) 
                if the provision was included in legislation other than 
                an appropriation Act; and
                    ``(B) results in a net decrease in budget authority 
                in the current year or the budget year, but does not 
                result in a net decrease in outlays over the period of 
                the total of the current year, the budget year, and all 
                fiscal years covered under the most recently adopted 
                concurrent resolution on the budget;
            ``(2) the term `Crime Victims Fund' means the Crime Victims 
        Fund established under section 1402 of the Victims of Crime Act 
        of 1984 (34 U.S.C. 20101); and
            ``(3) the term `3-year average amount' means the annual 
        average amount that was deposited into the Crime Victims Fund 
        during the 3-fiscal-year period beginning on October 1 of the 
        fourth fiscal year before the fiscal year to which a CHIMP 
        affecting the Crime Victims Fund applies.
    ``(b) Point of Order in the Senate.--
            ``(1) Point of order.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (C), in the Senate, it shall not be in 
                order to consider a provision in a bill or joint 
                resolution making appropriations for all or a portion 
                of a fiscal year, or an amendment thereto, amendment 
                between the Houses in relation thereto, conference 
                report thereon, or motion thereon, that contains a 
                CHIMP that, if enacted, would cause the amount 
                available for obligation during the fiscal year from 
                the Crime Victims Fund to be less than the 3-year 
                average amount.
                    ``(B) Point of order sustained.--If a point of 
                order is made by a Senator against a provision 
                described in subparagraph (A), and the point of order 
                is sustained by the Chair, that provision shall be 
                stricken from the measure and may not be offered as an 
                amendment from the floor.
                    ``(C) Limitation.--A point of order shall not lie 
                in the Senate under this paragraph if the difference 
                between the amount in the Crime Victims Fund as of 
                September 30 of the fiscal year immediately preceding 
                the fiscal year to which the CHIMP described in 
                subparagraph (A) relates and the amount available for 
                obligation under the CHIMP described in subparagraph 
                (A) is not more than $2,000,000,000.
            ``(2) Form of the point of order.--A point of order under 
        paragraph (1) may be raised by a Senator as provided in section 
        313(e).
            ``(3) Conference reports.--When the Senate is considering a 
        conference report on, or an amendment between the Houses in 
        relation to, a bill or joint resolution, upon a point of order 
        being made by any Senator pursuant to paragraph (1), and such 
        point of order being sustained, such material contained in such 
        conference report or House amendment shall be stricken, and the 
        Senate shall proceed to consider the question of whether the 
        Senate shall recede from its amendment and concur with a 
        further amendment, or concur in the House amendment with a 
        further amendment, as the case may be, which further amendment 
        shall consist of only that portion of the conference report or 
        House amendment, as the case may be, not so stricken. Any such 
        motion in the Senate shall be debatable. In any case in which 
        such point of order is sustained against a conference report 
        (or Senate amendment derived from such conference report by 
        operation of this subsection), no further amendment shall be in 
        order.
            ``(4) Supermajority waiver and appeal.--In the Senate, this 
        subsection may be waived or suspended only by an affirmative 
        vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chose and sworn. An 
        affirmative vote of three-fifths of Members of the Senate, duly 
        chosen and sworn shall be required to sustain an appeal of the 
        ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under this 
        subsection.
            ``(5) Determination.--For purposes of this subsection, 
        budgetary levels shall be determined on the basis of estimates 
        provided by the Chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the 
        Senate.
    ``(c) Point of Order in the House of Representatives.--
            ``(1) In general.--
                    ``(A) Point of order.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), a provision in a bill or joint 
                resolution making appropriations for a fiscal year that 
                proposes a CHIMP that, if enacted, would cause the 
                amount available for obligation during the fiscal year 
                from the Crime Victims Fund to be less than the 3-year 
                average amount shall not be in order in the House of 
                Representatives.
                    ``(B) Limitation.--Subparagraph (A) shall not apply 
                if the difference between the amount in the Crime 
                Victims Fund as of September 30 of the fiscal year 
                immediately preceding the fiscal year to which the 
                CHIMP described in subparagraph (A) relates and the 
                amount available for obligation under the CHIMP 
                described in subparagraph (A) is not more than 
                $2,000,000,000.
            ``(2) Amendments and conference reports.--It shall not be 
        in order in the House of Representatives to consider an 
        amendment to, or a conference report on, a bill or joint 
        resolution making appropriations for a fiscal year if such 
        amendment thereto or conference report thereon proposes a CHIMP 
        that, if enacted, would cause the amount available for 
        obligation during the fiscal year from the Crime Victims Fund 
        to be less than the 3-year average amount.
            ``(3) Determination.--For purposes of this subsection, 
        budgetary levels shall be determined on the basis of estimates 
        provided by the Chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the 
        House of Representatives.''.
    (c) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents in 
section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 
1974 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 428 the 
following:

   ``PART C--Additional Limitations on Budgetary and Appropriations 
                              Legislation

``Sec. 441. Point of order against changes in mandatory programs 
                            affecting the Crime Victims Fund.''.
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