[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 34 (Monday, February 26, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H1229-H1230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       VOCA FUNDING--LOCK THE BOX

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in the early days of 1984, Congress 
came up with a unique idea: with Congress' support, President Ronald 
Reagan signed into law the Victims of Crime Act, otherwise known as 
VOCA.
  This law established the Crime Victims Fund, with the sole purpose of 
supporting crime victims throughout the United States. But instead of 
using taxpayer money for the fund, Congress came up with a novel idea: 
Why not force the criminals, the traffickers, the abusers, the scourges 
on society, to pay for the restitution to their victims? They inflicted 
pain and suffering on innocent people, so they should be the ones, 
literally, to pay for their crimes.
  Because of the new law, convicted felons in Federal court who are 
assessed fines and fees pay into the Crime Victims Fund. The money in 
the fund is used for a wide range of victims' services:
  It pays for domestic violence shelters where spouses can recover from 
their abusers;
  It funds rape crisis coalition centers;
  It funds children's assessment centers like the one in my hometown of 
Houston;
  It sends money to victim advocates throughout the United States who 
go to court with victims of crime;
  It gives victims restitution and pays for critical medical and mental 
health programs.
  It is a really good idea, Mr. Speaker.
  Over the years, because our Federal judges have continued to fine and 
assess greater and greater penalties to the criminals, the VOCA fund 
currently holds--get this, Mr. Speaker--$12 billion. And let me make it 
clear: This is not taxpayer money; it is money that criminals have paid 
into the system. Criminals are paying the rent on the courthouse, 
paying for the system that they have created.
  So what is the problem? Here is the problem, Mr. Speaker: The fund, 
every year, is robbed by the bureaucrats to offset other Federal 
projects that are

[[Page H1230]]

completely unrelated to crime victims. For example, about $800,000 is 
spent out of the fund, which has $12 billion in money, and over the 
years, it continues to have more and more money because less of it is 
being spent. In my opinion, these bureaucrats are literally stealing 
money from the Victims Fund and throwing it into the abyss of the 
Federal Treasury. That money does not belong to the Federal Government; 
it belongs to crime victims.
  Victims do not have, Mr. Speaker, high-dollar lobbyists up here in 
Washington, D.C., advocating on their behalf. They expect us, Members 
of Congress, to be their lobbyists, to be their voice. As a former 
prosecutor and a former judge in Texas, I take that duty very 
seriously.
  It is the first responsibility of government to actually protect the 
people. We must stop the robber bureaucrats from stealing money out of 
the Crime Victims Fund and make sure that victims have access to the 
resources they need to become survivors.
  To achieve this goal, my friend, Representative  Jim Costa from 
California, my cochair in the Victims' Rights Caucus, and I have 
introduced the Crime Victims Fund Preservation Act. The bill is very 
simple. It creates a lockbox to make sure that the money in the fund 
cannot be used for anything other than victims' programs under the 
Victims of Crime Act.
  The Crime Victims Fund becomes an especially attractive target for 
offsets at this time when our government faces any sort of a deficit. 
That is why Congress must safeguard the fund to make sure the money is 
protected.
  The bill uses the money paid by criminals to help rescue and restore 
victims and ensure that it is safe from the sticky, pilfering hands of 
bureaucrats--and does so forever. So let the victims of crime keep the 
money and not send it to other programs in the Federal departments 
throughout the Nation.
  And that is just the way it is.

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