[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 25 (Friday, March 8, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1706-S1708]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself, Ms. Collins, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. 
        DeWine, and Mr. Bayh):
  S. 2002. A bill to ensure that victims of domestic violence get the 
help they need in a single phone call, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, today along with Senators Collins, 
Kennedy, DeWine and Bayh, I am proud to introduce the National Domestic 
Violence Hotline Enhancement Act. Modeled after the Day One project in 
Minnesota, the Act would create a web site that would allow National 
Domestic Violence Hotline operators, shelter based advocates and 
relevant State and local domestic violence service providers around the 
country to more quickly and easily find the most appropriate shelter 
for families seeking safety from abuse. The highly secure and 
confidential web site would keep a continuously updated, nationwide 
list of available shelter for victims of domestic violence and their 
families. It would also make available to the Hotline and to advocates 
information about services and facilities offered by these shelters, 
such as language, disability, transportation and children's services.
  In doing so, the new site would ensure that whenever a woman calls 
the Hotline or a shelter seeking help, the operator can immediately 
check the web site, get an up-to-the-minute listing of available 
shelters and services around the country, then, place the caller in the 
most appropriate shelter to meet her family's needs for safety, 
location, language and other services without the caller ever having to 
hang up the phone. The web site will ensure that during one of the most 
stressful and dangerous times of their lives, victims of domestic 
violence and their families can get the help they need in a single, 
easy phone call.
  Minnesota's Day One Program, which is the model for this bill, has 
run a highly successful, confidential web site that links every shelter 
in Minnesota. Day One has shown what profound benefits this new 
technology can bring to the lives of battered women and their children. 
It has broken down barriers families face in their first attempts to 
find safety, resulting in faster, more appropriate placements. In fact, 
Day One reports that 90 percent of women and children who call are 
assured services and shelter in a single call. In other words, when and 
where they need them most. This is critical since needing to make and 
receive multiple followup calls to find the most appropriate shelter 
has been a major barrier for women trying to escape an unsafe 
situation.
  The website helps ensure that women and children are placed in 
shelters that are best for them, whether that means shelters that are 
near transportation or a school, shelters that provide language or 
disability services, or shelters that have special programs for 
children. Finding shelter in a place where families can get the unique 
supports that they need also overcomes more of the traditional 
obstacles to safety.
  Having an online network of shelters also allows survivors and their 
children to relocate to a broader number of areas in the state so that 
they can be as safe as possible from their batterer, if that is 
necessary.
  The Network also benefits families because it benefits the service 
providers who help families. The new technology has saved staff time by 
reducing the number of calls staff has to make to find the best 
placement for clients. The web site has also opened lines of 
communication between shelters in Minnesota and has allowed a better 
sharing of needs and ideas which has led to better relationships and 
cooperation between shelters. Further, it has led to expanded 
documentation of occupancy rates and services needed and provided in 
Minnesota. In a survey of Minnesota shelters, 95 percent of respondents 
said that their experience with Day One is ``excellent.'' All of this 
means better service for battered women and their families.
  We have used the most advanced technology to improve education, 
science, medicine and almost every aspect of our lives. None of us can 
have failed to recognize the powerful change the Internet has brought 
to our society. None of us can deny that we must embrace this change 
and use it to our greatest advantage. The National Domestic Violence 
Hotline Enhancement Act now will apply America's newest and best 
technology to help solve one of our nation's oldest, most confounding 
and brutal problems, domestic violence. This move is long overdue. The 
National Network to End Domestic Violence estimates that only 43 
percent of shelters in the United States have Internet access, leaving 
well over half of all shelters without services the rest of us have 
come to think of as routine. In linking the shelters on an electronic 
network, this bill would help every shelter in the country have 
Internet access. It gives us the opportunity to use one of the 
century's greatest advances to save the lives of women and children.
  Last year at least 32 women and 10 children were murdered as a result 
of domestic violence in Minnesota. Across the Nation, a woman is 
battered every 15 seconds. Three to 10 million children nationally are 
estimated to witness domestic violence each year, 70 percent of whom 
are abused themselves. Domestic Violence is in all of our communities. 
Despite its pervasiveness, there is still nowhere where violence is 
more isolated from view, more difficult to combat and more far reaching 
in its impact than violence in the home. It is a problem we cannot 
afford to ignore. People who will try to keep family violence quiet and 
hidden behind the walls of the home ignore its tragic echoes in our 
schools, in the workplace and on the streets.
  I do not want to hear one more story about a woman being murdered by 
her husband or by her boyfriend. I do not want to hear one more story 
about a woman being beaten, or her child fighting in school because he 
saw fighting in his home.
  If we are going to put an end to this horrible pattern, we must put 
an end to the pattern where women seek shelter, but give up in 
frustration when they find none. We must put an end to the pattern that 
one quarter of homeless people on any given night are victims of 
domestic violence and their children. This bill is one step in that 
direction.

[[Page S1707]]

  Over the past six years, the National Domestic Violence Hotline has 
received over 500,000 calls from women and children in danger from 
abuse. If we ensure that a web site similar to the one in Minnesota 
were made available to all of these families seeking help, so that 
women can get shelter and services when and where they need it, we 
could take a strong step to ensuring the safety and well being of 
hundreds of thousands of families fleeing domestic violence around the 
country. Technology gives us the tools to help undo one of the greatest 
wrongs we confront as a society. We cannot turn our backs on this 
opportunity. I urge my colleagues' support of this important 
legislation.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today I join Senators Wellstone, Kennedy, 
DeWine, and Bayh in introducing the National Domestic Violence Hotline 
Enhancement Act. This legislation would authorize the Department of 
Health and Human Services to oversee the creation of a secure web site 
that would link every domestic violence shelter and service provider in 
the United States and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
  The objective is to enable victims of domestic violence and their 
families who are seeking safety from abuse to more quickly and easily 
find the shelter and other services they so desperately need. The 
secure and confidential web site would keep a continuously updated, 
nationwide list of available shelter and services, such as 
transportation and children's services, for victims of domestic 
violence and their families.
  Once the web site is operational, whenever a woman calls the Hotline, 
a shelter or other domestic violence project, the operator can 
immediately check the site and get an up-to-date listing of available 
shelters and services around the country. With a single phone call, a 
victim of domestic violence and her family can be placed in the most 
appropriate shelter to meet their needs or more quickly obtain the 
other services that will enable them to escape a dangerous situation.
  Domestic violence is the number one cause of injury to women in the 
United States. In this country, a woman is battered every 15 seconds. 
It is estimated that one in five women admitted to emergency rooms is 
there due to battering. Almost one-third of the American women murdered 
each year are killed by their current or former partners, usually a 
husband. In the State of Maine, the overall crime rate dropped by 12 
percent in 2000, but domestic violence reports increased by 12.5 
percent. It is the leading cause of murder in Maine, resulting in over 
half the state's homicides.
  Even when children aren't the target of family violence, those who 
witness abuse in their homes do not escape unscathed. Tragically, they 
too are victims, with effects that can include physical, psychological 
and behavioral problems. Moreover, many of the millions of children who 
suffer or witness abuse in their homes grow up to perpetuate the legacy 
of family violence. A report by the American Psychological Association 
found that a ``child's exposure to the father abusing the mother is the 
strongest risk for transmitting violent behavior from one generation to 
the next.''
  According to one estimate by the American Medical Association, 
domestic violence costs the nation from $5 to $10 billion annually in 
medical expenses, police and court costs, shelters and foster care, 
sick leave, absenteeism, and nonproductivity. Add the untold costs in 
suffering and destroyed lives caused by domestic abuse, and the need to 
more effectively intervene and break the cycle of violence becomes even 
more compelling.
  Information technology has improved many aspects of our lives in 
recent years, and it is time we used advances in technology to help 
victims and break the cycle of domestic violence. The National Domestic 
Violence Hotline Enhancement Act will do just that by more effectively 
helping women and children escape unsafe and violent situations.
  To achieve the goal of linking the National Domestic Violence Hotline 
and every domestic violence shelter and service provider on an 
electronic network, the legislation authorizes the use of funds to 
provide Internet access and training to shelters that currently do not 
have the necessary technology. This is a critical element of the bill 
because only 43 percent of shelters in the United States have Internet 
access, leaving over half of all shelters without services that many of 
us now take for granted.
  The National Domestic Violence Hotline Enhancement Act would create a 
national domestic violence website and secure network, and it will give 
service providers the tools to both contribute to and benefit from that 
network. By doing so, the bill would help ensure that hundreds of 
thousands of women and children in need of help to escape violence will 
find the safety and well-being they deserve. I urge my colleagues to 
support this important legislation.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself, Mr. McCain, Ms. Landrieu, 
        Mr. Conrad, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Breaux, and Mr. Johnson):
  S. 2003. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the 
applicability of the prohibition on assignment of veterans benefits to 
agreements regarding future receipt of compensation, pension, or 
dependency and indemnity compensation, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation, on 
behalf of Senators John McCain, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Bingaman, 
Mr. Breaux, and Mr. Johnson, to protect our veterans from financial 
predators who offer ``instant cash'' in exchange for future pensions or 
disability pay.
  Current law prohibits the direct sale of a veteran's pension or 
disability benefits. These payments are a tax-free, monthly check from 
the government, meant to provide important financial support to 
veterans who were disabled or wounded in service to our country. In the 
State of Florida alone, 245,000 veterans or their survivors received 
such compensation last year; and the Department of Veterans Affairs 
paid out nearly $21.3 billion nationwide.
  To get this pot of money, some companies have used a loophole that 
enables them to enter into contract with veterans and offer them 
``instant cash'' in exchange for future benefits.
  These contracts require veterans to sign away their disability 
benefits or pensions for a certain period, often 8 years. In exchange, 
companies give them a lump-sum cash payment, typically valued at only 
30 cents per dollar and in certain cases, companies require veterans to 
put up collateral, such as taking out a life insurance policy, 
potentially leaving a veteran's family out in the cold.
  The VA has called this practice a ``financial scam.'' The VA 
Inspector General says: ``These schemes seem to target the most 
financially desperate veterans who are the most vulnerable. For many 
unsuspecting veterans, these benefit buyouts could be financially 
devastating.'' In one case, a veteran received a lump total of $73,000 
in return for his monthly benefit checks of $2,700 over 10 years. An 
annual interest rate of 28.5 percent.
  I find this practice reprehensible. The intent of the law that 
prohibits the assignment of a veteran's benefits is being skirted. My 
bill expands the definition of assignment of benefits and makes a 
violation punishable by a stiff fine, and up to 1 year in jail.
  The second part of my bill creates a 5-year education and outreach 
campaign, through the VA, to provide information to veterans about what 
legitimate financial services are available to them.
  The Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, 
Vietnam Veterans of America, and AMVETS have endorsed this bill. I look 
forward to having the support of this body as we move to better protect 
our veterans from ``instant cash'' and other financial schemes.
  I would like to conclude with a comment from one of our country's 
veterans. ``. . . My pension isn't a lottery winning. It's an award 
from the American people for serving my country, and it's appalling to 
think there are those out there that would rob you of this honor and 
steal your future.''
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.

[[Page S1708]]

  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2003

       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 ``Veterans Benefits and 
     Pensions Protection Act of 2002''.

     SEC. 2. APPLICABILITY OF PROHIBITION ON ASSIGNMENT OF 
                   VETERANS BENEFITS TO AGREEMENTS ON FUTURE 
                   RECEIPT OF CERTAIN BENEFITS.

       (a) In General.--Section 5301(a) of title 38, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(a)'';
       (2) by designating the last sentence as paragraph (2) and 
     indenting such paragraph, as so designated, two ems from the 
     left margin; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(3)(A) For purposes of this subsection, in any case where 
     a beneficiary entitled to compensation, pension, or 
     dependency and indemnity compensation enters into an 
     agreement with another person under which agreement such 
     other person acquires for consideration the right to receive 
     payment of such compensation, pension, or dependency and 
     indemnity compensation, as the case may be, whether by 
     payment from the beneficiary to such other person, deposit 
     into an account from which such other person may make 
     withdrawals, or otherwise, such agreement shall be deemed to 
     be an assignment and is prohibited.
       ``(B) Any agreement or arrangement for collateral for 
     security for an agreement that is prohibited under 
     subparagraph (A) is also prohibited.
       ``(C)(i) Any person who enters into an agreement that is 
     prohibited under subparagraph (A), or an agreement or 
     arrangement that is prohibited under subparagraph (B), shall 
     be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than one 
     year, or both.
       ``(ii) This subparagraph does not apply to a beneficiary 
     with respect to compensation, pension, or disability and 
     indemnity compensation to which the beneficiary is entitled 
     under a law administered by the Secretary.''.
       (b) Effective Dates.--(1) Subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 
     paragraph (3) of section 5301(a) of title 38, United States 
     Code (as added by subsection (a) of this section), shall 
     apply with respect to any agreement or arrangement described 
     in such subparagraphs, whether entered into before, on, or 
     after the date of the enactment of this Act, and any such 
     agreement or arrangement entered into before the date of the 
     enactment of this Act is void and unenforceable as of such 
     date.
       (2) Subparagraph (C) of such paragraph shall apply with 
     respect to any agreement or arrangement covered by such 
     subparagraph that is entered into on or after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act.
       (c) Outreach.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, 
     during the five-year period beginning on the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, carry out a program of outreach to 
     inform veterans and other recipients or potential recipients 
     of compensation, pension, or disability and indemnity 
     compensation benefits under the laws administered by the 
     Secretary of the prohibition on the assignability of such 
     benefits under law. The program shall include information on 
     various schemes to evade the prohibition, and means of 
     avoiding such schemes.
       (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is hereby 
     authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Veterans 
     Affairs for each of fiscal years 2003 through 2007, 
     $3,000,000 for purposes of carrying out the program of 
     outreach required by subsection (c).

                          ____________________