[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 155 (Saturday, September 27, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H10255-H10257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DEBBIE SMITH REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in 
the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 5057) to reauthorize the Debbie 
Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:

       Senate amendment:
       Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
     following:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Debbie Smith Reauthorization 
     Act of 2008''.

     SEC. 2. GENERAL REAUTHORIZATION.

       Section 2 of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 
     2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (c)(3), by--
       (A) striking subparagraphs (A) through (D);
       (B) redesignating subparagraph (E) and subparagraph (A); 
     and
       (C) inserting at the end the following:
       ``(B) For each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014, not 
     less than 40 percent of the grant amounts shall be awarded 
     for purposes under subsection (a)(2).''; and
       (2) by amending subsection (j) to read as follows:
       ``(j) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General for 
     grants under subsection (a) $151,000,000 for each of fiscal 
     years 2009 through 2014.''.

     SEC. 3. TRAINING AND EDUCATION.

       Section 303(b) of the DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act of 
     2004 (42 U.S.C. 14136(b)) is amended by striking ``2005 
     through 2009'' and inserting ``2009 through 2014''.

     SEC. 4. SEXUAL ASSAULT FORENSIC EXAM GRANTS.

       Section 304(c) of the DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act of 
     2004 (42 U.S.C. 14136a(c)) is amended by striking ``2005 
     through 2009'' and inserting ``2009 through 2014''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney).
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding and for his extraordinary leadership on so many important 
issues before this body, including the Debbie Smith Act, which I rise 
today in strong support of, H.R. 5057, the Debbie Smith Reauthorization 
Act that I introduced to ensure that the nationwide backlog of DNA 
evidence is processed.
  I want to thank the bill's supporters in the Senate, especially 
Senators Biden, Leahy, Kyl and Specter, for their assistance in getting 
this legislation through the Senate and back to the House before we 
adjourn.
  I also want to commend Chairman Conyers for his leadership, Ranking 
Member Smith, Chairman Scott and Ranking Member Gohmert, along with 
Anthony Weiner and so many of my colleagues for their support and 
commitment to this issue.
  Advocates have called the Debbie Smith Act one of the most important 
anti-crime bills that has ever passed Congress and one of the most 
important anti-violence against women and anti-rape pieces of 
legislation ever.
  I first introduced the grant program in 2001 after a rape victim 
whose attacker was later identified through DNA analysis testified 
before a hearing in Congress. The long, bipartisan effort to pass the 
original legislation was made into a Lifetime movie entitled ``A Life 
Interrupted: The Debbie Smith Story.'' I thank Lifetime and Oprah for 
having championed the passage of this important legislation.
  I have been working on this issue since 2001, when I organized a 
hearing in the Government Reform and Oversight Committee to examine the 
use of DNA to both convict and to exonerate. We reached out to many 
victims to testify. Only one would come before Congress, Debbie Smith.

                              {time}  1815

  She told her horrifying story, how an intruder broke into her 
suburban home in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1989 and raped her 
repeatedly in nearby woods while her police officer husband slept 
upstairs. He rushed her to the police station. DNA was taken, but in 
many ways her life was destroyed, as she believed he would come back as 
he said he would and kill her if she had told anybody what happened.
  Six years later, after an assailant was charged with her rape, 
because DNA processing techniques had produced a cold hit with a State 
prisoner's DNA sample, that match gave Debbie her first moment of 
closure and security. Since then, Debbie and her husband, Robert, have 
lobbied Congress, traveled the country and started a not-for-profit to 
help victims of rape.
  It was unconscionable that hundreds of thousands of rape kits with 
DNA evidence already collected were gathering dust in police stations 
and crime labs all over this country, and it is still unconscionable 
that according to the U.S. Department of Justice, there are over 
221,000 untested rape kits on shelves and evidence cabinets in States 
across our country.
  It was for Debbie and rape survivors like her that in 2001 I authored 
the Debbie Smith Act to provide Federal funding to process the backlog 
of DNA evidence. The bill helped standardize the evidence collection of 
kits for sexual assaults, making it easier to enter the information 
into State and national databases.
  It also helped forensic labs process the data evidence and compare 
the DNA samples with those taken from criminals. It funded the SANE 
nurse program that taught them how to process and maintain the 
information and to go into court to help the police with convictions. 
The law also allows law enforcement greater leeway to indict John Doe 
or an unnamed individual using their DNA profile.
  The Justice for All Act accomplished several critical objectives, 
including authorizing the necessary funding, $151 million in each 
fiscal year from 2005 through 2009, to process the backlog of DNA 
evidence through the creation of the State grant program.
  Since 2004, millions of dollars in funding have been appropriated to 
States across our country to attack this backlog grant program. Each 
unprocessed kit represents an innocent life like Debbie Smith, and a 
rapist who may commit multiple rapes before he is caught.
  The FBI has characterized rape as the worst crime, preceded only by 
murder in terms of the destruction to one's life. They have said that a 
rapist, a sick person, will attack seven times. So at least, if you 
process these kits, you can put people in jail and prevent innocent 
victims from having the horror in their lives that Debbie experienced.
  The Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act extends the program through 2014 
and also reauthorizes programs for training, education and sexual 
assault forensic exam grants.
  DNA is remarkable evidence. It doesn't forget, it can't be confused, 
it is not intimidated, and it does not lie.

[[Page H10256]]

While an eyewitness can easily get mixed up about height, weight, hair 
color, DNA never changes its story.
  Debbie's bravery and dedication and working with me and others to 
pass the Debbie Smith Act, which was a very difficult thing to 
accomplish, has already made a tremendous impact on our justice system.
  I also want to acknowledge the RAINN program for its steadfast 
support of the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act and for its efforts on 
behalf of sexual assault victims and survivors. Tragically, only 6 
percent of rapists will ever spend any time in jail. Congress must 
continue to support programs like the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant 
Program and help to put to rapists in prison, reduce the violence 
against women and solve other violent crimes.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in important bipartisan, hopefully 
unanimous support for this reauthorization.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this legislation, 
and I want to give credit to the gentlewoman from New York, 
Congresswoman Maloney, for taking the initiative for introducing this 
legislation and for advancing it to the point where we are considering 
it here tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the second time that the House has considered 
this bill. The House passed an earlier version last July. The Senate 
recently passed this more streamlined version of H.R. 5057, which I 
hope our colleagues will support once again.
  As Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, I joined Chairman 
Conyers as an original co-sponsor of this legislation, which was 
introduced by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.
  This bill reauthorizes a tremendously important program: the Debbie 
Smith DNA Backlog Elimination Grant Program. H.R. 5057 reauthorizes the 
grant program through fiscal year 2014 at $151 million per year.
  The Debbie Smith Program provides grants to state and local 
governments to reduce the DNA backlog of samples collected and entered 
into the national DNA database. The program, originally authorized in 
2000, expires at the end of fiscal year 2009.
  DNA has become an invaluable tool in identifying and convicting 
criminal suspects. At the same time, the increased use of DNA evidence 
in criminal prosecutions has also increased DNA collection and 
processing requests. The result is a substantial backlog in processing 
DNA evidence across the country.
  Since 2000, DNA backlog grants live assisted state and local 
governments with the collection Of 2.5 million DNA samples from 
convicted offenders and arrestees for inclusion in the national DNA 
database. The backlog grants have also funded the testing of 
approximately 104,000 DNA cases between 2004 and 2007.
  While the Debbie Smith program has been successful in reducing the 
backlog, there is still work to do. A 2003 Department of Justice report 
indicated that a backlog existed of 48,000 DNA samples. The current 
backlog is expected to be just as high.
  Congress has a responsibility to assist states with investigating, 
prosecuting and punishing criminals and to provide justice for victims. 
The Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act protects victims by providing 
Federal funding to process the DNA evidence needed to take violent 
criminals off the streets.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important 
legislation.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 
5057, the ``Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008'' (reauthorizing 
Title II of P.L. 108-405). This Act authorizes funding to eliminate the 
large backlogs of DNA crime scene samples awaiting testing in State 
forensic labs. I am in support of this bill.
  In recent years, law enforcement agencies have realized the critical 
value that DNA evidence has in quickly solving cases. Often, a DNA 
sample result can scientifically link a perpetrator to a crime or prove 
a defendant's innocence with virtual certainty. Many of the Nation's 
Federal and State criminal forensics laboratories currently are 
overwhelmed with innumerable samples awaiting DNA analysis.
  Named for Debbie Smith, who was kidnapped in her Virginia home and 
raped in nearby woods by a stranger, the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant 
Program authorized grant money to states to collect samples from crime 
seems and convicted persons, conduct DNA analyses, and enter these 
results into a comprehensive national database. Debbie Smith's attacker 
remained unidentified for over six years, until a DNA sample collected 
from a convicted person serving time in a Virginia State prison 
revealed his involvement in her rape. Although eventually identified, 
the six years between crime and identification allowed Ms. Smith's 
attacker to engage in more criminal activity.
  Re-authorization of the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program will 
help law enforcement throughout the Nation. It will facilitate the 
development of a comprehensive national data base against which samples 
from current crime scenes can be compared. It will allow laboratories 
to reduce the currently unacceptable delays in processing DNA samples. 
Finally, it will provide law enforcement and prosecutors strong tools 
to quickly identify and prosecute criminals, minimizing the costs of 
investigation and prosecution, the possibility of prosecuting the wrong 
person and the possibility of future heinous crimes.
  Recognizing that the backlog of biological evidence that had to be 
entered in State databases was preventing law enforcement officials 
from solving many of the Nation's most heinous crimes, like the tragedy 
that befell Debbie Smith, Congress passed the DNA ``Analysis Backlog 
Elimination Act of 2000'' (P.L. 106-546). The bill authorized the 
Attorney General to make grants to eligible States to collect DNA 
samples from convicted individuals and crime scenes for inclusion in 
the Federal DNA database, Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), and to 
increase the capacity of State crime laboratories. The Act required the 
Bureau of Prisons and the military to collect DNA samples from 
convicted individuals and forward these samples for analysis, and 
required the FBI to expand its CODIS database to include the analyses 
of these DNA samples.
  The Act also amended the criminal code to require all defendants on 
probation or supervised release to cooperate with the collection of a 
DNA sample. The Act expressed the sense of Congress that State grants 
should be conditioned upon the State's agreement to ensure post-
conviction DNA testing in appropriate cases; and that Congress should 
work with the States to improve the quality of legal representation in 
capital cases. Finally, the Act authorized an unspecified amount of 
appropriations to the Attorney General to carry out the Act.
  In 2004, DNA backlog elimination was incorporated into the Justice 
for Act of 2004'', P.L. 108-405 and was renamed the Debbie Smith DNA 
Backlog Grant Program, which became Title II of P.L. 108-405. While the 
Act authorized $151 million for each fiscal year 2005-2009, Congress 
did not appropriate any money until FY 2008, at which time it 
appropriated $147-4 million.
  The Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program expires at the end of FY 
2009. H.R. 5057, the ``Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act,'' which has 
strong bipartisan support, would renew the law and authorize $151 
million for each fiscal year 2009-2014. H.R. 5057 specifies that not 
less than 40% of the total amount awarded in grants must be used for 
DNA analyses of samples from crime scenes, rape kits and other sexual 
assault evidence, and in cases that do not have an identified suspect.


                               AMENDMENT

  While I support this legislation, I offered an amendment that was 
accepted and reported out of the House. However, now that the bill has 
returned from the Senate, the bill is before the House again without my 
original amendment. My amendment required the Attorney General to 
evaluate the integrity and security of DNA collection and storage 
practices and procedures at a sample of crime laboratories throughout 
the country to determine the extent to which DNA samples are tampered 
with or are otherwise contaminated in such laboratories. The sample 
should be a representative sample and should include at least one lab 
from each State. My amendment required the Attorney General to conduct 
this evaluation annually and the Attorney General should be required to 
submit the evaluation to Congress. This amendment was necessary and 
critically important.
  A district attorney in Harris County, Texas used evidence to 
wrongfully convict persons based upon faulty evidence. An investigation 
into the Houston Police Department's crime lab revealed that bad 
management, under-trained staff, false documentation, and inaccurate 
work cast doubt on thousands of DNA based convictions. Investigators 
raised serious questions about the reliability of evidence in hundreds 
cases they investigated and asked for further independent scrutiny and 
new testing to determine the extent to which individuals were wrongly 
convicted with faulty evidence.
  My amendment would have ensured that Congress will exercise some 
oversight of the program. It ensured the integrity and security of the 
DNA collection and storage and procedures. It was my hope that my 
amendment would minimize wrongful convictions and would make the DNA 
storage and collection process more reliable.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by

[[Page H10257]]

the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) that the House suspend the 
rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill, H.R. 5057.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the Senate amendment was concurred in.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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