[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 198 (Monday, December 17, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 4120. Mr. TOOMEY (for himself, Mr. Crapo, Mrs. Ernst, Mr. Enzi,
and Mr. Lankford) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 4108 proposed by Mr. McConnell (for Mr. Grassley) to the
bill S. 756, to reauthorize and amend the Marine Debris Act to promote
international action to reduce marine debris, and for other purposes;
which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. FAIRNESS FOR CRIME VICTIMS.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the
``Fairness for Crime Victims Act of 2018''.
(b) 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 taking funds
collected by the Crime Victims Fund and 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 crime victims in accordance with the
Victims of Crime Act of 1984.
(c) 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.--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.
``(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 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.
``(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.''.
(d) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of
contents in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget 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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