[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 10, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4747-S4748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Debbie Smith Act

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, throughout my career, dating back to my 
days as Texas attorney general, I have long been a proud advocate for 
crime victims' rights. I believe we all have a responsibility to 
provide men and women impacted by such traumatic events the resources 
and care they need when they need it.
  Right now the Congress has an opportunity to pass two separate pieces 
of legislation to support victims of sexual assault and domestic 
violence. Sadly, both bills have been caught in the crosshairs of 
political jockeying in the House, with Democrats using a tit-for-tat 
strategy that has frozen both bills.
  One of those bills is called the Debbie Smith Act. The namesake of 
this legislation is a woman whom I have had the honor of working with 
many times over the years. She is a fierce advocate for victims of 
sexual assault.
  Like so many victims, her advocacy was born from a personal 
experience. In 1989, she was abducted from her home and raped in a 
wooded area. She reported the crime to police and went to the emergency 
room for a forensic examination, but there were no immediate answers. 
Though exact numbers are difficult to estimate, some experts believe 
that there are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits that remain 
across the United States.
  For 6\1/2\ years the DNA evidence of Debbie's attacker sat on a shelf 
in an evidence locker while she constantly wondered who her attacker 
was and when he would appear again. Channeling that fear and 
frustration, Debbie made it her mission in life to eliminate the rape 
kit backlog. I have no doubt that because of her and the important 
legislation this Congress has passed for the past 15 years, we were 
making some pretty incredible progress toward her goal.
  In 2004, the Debbie Smith Act was signed into law to provide State 
and local crime labs with the resources to end the backlog of unsolved 
crimes. More than $1 billion has been provided to these forensic labs 
because of this law, and the legislation passed by the Senate in May 
will provide even greater resources for the program.
  While the original purpose of the legislation was to reduce the rape 
kit backlog, this DNA evidence serves multiple purposes. It enables law 
enforcement to identify and convict people who commit other violent 
crimes and takes more criminals off the street. It also has a 
corresponding benefit for the wrongfully accused. It can actually 
exclude people based on the DNA test results in the forensic rape kit.
  Because of the Debbie Smith Act, more than 860,000 DNA cases have 
been

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processed, and 360,000 DNA profiles have been uploaded into the FBI's 
database. This accounts for 43 percent of all forensic profiles in the 
FBI's DNA database. The benefits of this law cannot be overstated. That 
is why the Debbie Smith Act was easily reauthorized in both 2008 and 
2014.
  Now it is time once again to reauthorize this important legislation. 
Earlier this year, Senator Feinstein and I introduced the Debbie Smith 
Act of 2019, which reauthorizes the important funding that supports the 
testing of this DNA evidence. Things like training for law enforcement, 
correctional officers, training for forensic nurses and other 
professionals who assist victims of sexual assault are also included in 
this bill. When the Senate voted in May, not a single Senator voted 
against it--not one. It was unanimous. But here we are nearly 2 months 
later and the House of Representatives hasn't lifted a finger.
  The bill isn't partisan. It is not divisive. It is not controversial. 
So why do they refuse to bring the bill up for a vote? Well, they are 
not holding this bill up because they are working on a different 
version or because they disagree with any of the provisions or because 
they simply don't like it. No, they are actually holding it hostage to 
try to force a vote on their ultrapartisan version of the Violence 
Against Women Act, or VAWA, the second piece of legislation they are 
stopping. Actually, Democrats allowed the current Violence Against 
Women Act to expire over Republican objections so that they could 
maintain this leverage to pass their ultrapartisan version of VAWA 
sometime later.
  Folks on both sides of the aisle can agree it is time to make some 
important improvements in VAWA, and our colleague Senator Ernst from 
Iowa has been working very hard to try to come up with a good 
bipartisan bill. It deserves to be reauthorized and strengthened to 
ensure victims have access to the services and protections they need.
  Going through the regular order is something I support, and it is an 
effort that has been led by, as I said, Senator Ernst from Iowa. But 
the version of the bill that has passed in the House is a far cry from 
any kind of consensus legislation. It includes provisions that would 
never pass in the Senate, and that is why it passed the House, in order 
to create that conflict and that obstacle.

  It is not fair to Debbie Smith and other victims of sexual assault 
for House Democrats to hold them hostage over a separate bill that is 
still being negotiated in good faith by Members on both sides of the 
aisle.
  Despite repeated requests from advocates and victims' rights groups 
to pass the Debbie Smith Act freestanding, the House has, once again, 
chosen to play politics.
  I understand Debbie has requested to meet with leadership in the 
House, and I strongly encourage them to take the time to talk to Debbie 
and hear her perspective on why this legislation is so critical and why 
it must be passed now. House Democrats refuse to pass the Debbie Smith 
Act and help crime labs eliminate the rape kit backlog. They refuse to 
negotiate in good faith on VAWA, Violence Against Women Act, 
reauthorization and what that might look like. Unfortunately, they have 
succumbed to the temptation of playing partisan politics with pretty 
important legislation and hurting a lot of innocent people in the 
meantime. I find that absolutely unacceptable.
  I would urge our colleague Speaker Pelosi to bring the Debbie Smith 
Act up for a vote and quit using sexual assault victims as a bargaining 
chip.
  I yield the floor.


                   nomination of t. kent wetherell ii

  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, I proudly support the 
confirmation of Judge T. Kent Wetherell II to the U.S. District Court 
for the Northern District of Florida today. He earned his undergraduate 
and juris doctor degrees from the Florida State University and has 
committed himself to public service for the past 20 years. He has 
served as deputy solicitor general in the Office of the Florida 
Attorney General; an administrative law judge in Florida's division of 
administrative hearings; and, for the past decade, as an appellate 
judge on Florida's First District Court of Appeal. Judge Wetherell will 
continue to serve our State and Nation well, and I am proud to support 
his confirmation to the Federal bench.