[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 155 (Saturday, September 27, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9899-S9900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    AUTHORIZING FUNDING FOR THE NATIONAL CRIME VICTIM LAW INSTITUTE

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3641, introduced earlier 
today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.

[[Page S9900]]

  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 3641) to authorize funding for the National 
     Crime Victim Law Institute to provide support for victims of 
     crime under Crime Victims Legal Assistance Programs as a part 
     of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. Presdient, I am glad the Senate is moving forward 
today by passing a bill to reauthorize funding to provide legal support 
to victims of crime through Crime Victims Legal Assistance Programs. I 
was proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill. Too often, 
survivors who have been victims of crimes are left without recourse and 
legal assistance. This bill will help ensure that their needs are not 
forgotten. It is vitally important that we continue to recognize the 
needs of crime victims and their family members and work together to 
promote victims' rights and services.
  We have been able to make some progress during the past 27 years to 
provide victims with greater rights and assistance. In particular, I 
was honored to support the passage of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, 
VOCA, Public Law 98-473, which established the Crime Victims Fund. The 
Crime Victims Fund allows the Federal Government to provide grants to 
State crime victim compensation programs, direct victim assistance 
services, and services to victims of Federal crimes. Nearly 90 percent 
of the Crime Victims Fund is used to award victim assistance formula 
grants and provide State crime victim compensation. These VOCA-funded 
victim assistance programs serve nearly four million crime victims each 
year, including victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child 
abuse, elder abuse, and drunk driving, as well as survivors of homicide 
victims. Our VOCA-funded compensation programs have helped hundreds of 
thousands of victims of violent crime.
  The Crime Victims Fund is the Nation's premier vehicle for supporting 
victims' services. It is important to understand that the Crime Victims 
Fund does not receive a dime from tax revenue or appropriated funding. 
Instead, it is made up of criminal fines, forfeited bail bonds, 
penalties, and special assessments.
  In 1995, after the Oklahoma City bombing, I proposed and Congress 
passed the Victims of Terrorism Act of 1995. Among other important 
matters, this legislation authorized the Office for Victims of Crime at 
the Department of Justice to set aside an emergency reserve as part of 
the Crime Victims Fund to serve as a ``rainy day'' resource to 
supplement compensation and assistance grants to States to provide 
emergency relief in the wake of an act of terrorism or mass violence 
that might otherwise overwhelm the resources of a State's crime victims 
compensation program and crime victims assistance services.
  We also enacted, as part of the Justice for All Act of 2004, Federal 
rights for victims. In the Scott Campbell, Stephanie Roper, Wendy 
Preston, Louarna Gillis, and Nila Lynn Crime Victims' Rights Act, we 
expressly provided for the right to reasonable, accurate, and timely 
notice of any public court proceeding; the right not to be excluded 
from any such public court proceeding; the right to be reasonably heard 
at any public proceeding involving release, plea, sentencing, or 
parole; the reasonable right to confer with the attorney for the 
Government in the case; the right to full and timely restitution as 
provided in law; the right to proceedings free from unreasonable delay; 
and the right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the 
victim's dignity and privacy. I wrote a letter to Attorney General 
Mukasey in June to ask what the Justice Department has done to ensure 
that family members of 9/11 victims are afforded the same level of 
respect as the 9/11 court and military commission proceedings and move 
forward.
  Since fiscal year 2000, Congress has set a cap on annual obligations 
from the Crime Victims Fund. I have worked to ensure that the cap has 
never resulted in resources being lost to the Crime Victims Fund. I 
believe we need to increase the cap. With the failure of the Bush 
administration crime prevention policies, crime began to rise under 
Attorney General Gonzales. Crime victims, the States, and service 
providers need more assistance.
  Instead of taking that salutary action, the Bush administration is 
proposing to raid the Crime Victims Fund and zero it out. The future of 
the Crime Victims Fund is in danger because the Bush administration has 
proposed rescinding all amounts remaining in the Crime Victims Fund at 
the end of fiscal year 2009--just cleaning it out and leaving the 
cupboard bare. That would leave the Crime Victims Fund with a zero 
balance going into fiscal year 2010 and create a disastrous situation 
for providers of victims' services. That is wrong.
  Over the last few years, we have successfully blocked the Bush 
administration's past attempts to raid the Crime Victims Fund. This is 
not a cache of money from which this administration should try to 
reduce the budget deficits it has created. This administration has 
turned a $5 trillion budget surplus into a $9.4 trillion debt. Its 
annual deficits run into the hundreds of millions. It is wrong to try 
to pay for its failed fiscal policies by emptying out the Crime Victims 
Fund. These resources are set aside to assist victims of crime.
  In order to preserve the Crime Victims Fund once again, Senator Crapo 
and I, as well as 25 other Senators, sent a letter on April 4, 2008, to 
the Senate Appropriations Committee asking that the committee oppose 
the administration's proposal to empty the Crime Victims Fund. We asked 
the committee, instead, to permit unobligated funds to remain in the 
Crime Victims Fund, in accordance with current law, to be used for 
needed programs and services that are so important to victims of crime 
in the years ahead.
  The Judiciary Committee has worked hard this Congress to pass 
legislation that protects victims of Crime. This week the Senate 
unanimously reauthorized the Debbie Smith DNA backlog grant program, 
which helps forensic labs keep up with the increasing demand for DNA 
analysis. The Debbie Smith DNA backlog grant program has given States 
help they desperately needed, and continue to need, to carry out DNA 
analyses of backlogged evidence, particularly rape kits. It has 
provided a strong starting point in addressing this serious problem, 
but much work remains to be done before we conquer these inexcusable 
backlogs. I was pleased to work with Debbie Smith and Senator Biden to 
pass the reauthorization.
  I am also proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation. This bill will 
help victims of crime by reauthorizing funding for essential programs 
such as the Victim Notification System, which is run by the Department 
of Justice, and programs that provide legal counsel and support 
services for victims in criminal cases.
  We need to renew our national commitment to crime victims. I am glad 
the Senate has passed this important bill today, and I hope that the 
House will move on this legislation swiftly.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 3641) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 3641

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

     SECTION 1. REAUTHORIZATION.

       Section 103(b) of the Justice for All Act of 2004 (Public 
     Law 108-405; 118 Stat. 2264) is amended in paragraphs (1) 
     through (5) by striking ``2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009'' each 
     place it appears and inserting ``2010, 2011, 2012, and 
     2013''.

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