[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 127 (Tuesday, July 20, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S4955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, later 
today, the Senate is set to do some bipartisan legislating.
  Back in 1984, Congress passed a Victims of Crime Act, which includes 
an important Federal program called a Crime Victims Fund. When 
criminals who commit Federal crimes are charged fines and penalties, 
some of that money flows into this fund. It goes to State-level 
programs that help crime victims with services, like counseling and 
emergency shelters. It also helps compensate the victims directly with 
their expenses, like medical costs, mental health, funeral expenses, 
and lost wages. Some of the money also goes specifically to fight child 
abuse.
  This fund needs to rest on firm financial footing, but right now it 
doesn't have that firm footing. Its balance has been shrinking fast. 
Congress needs to act to prevent big cuts to victims' services, 
particularly in rural areas.
  A number of Senators on both sides have come together and produced 
bipartisan reforms that will strengthen the program and keep assistance 
flowing to the survivors of Federal crimes.
  The junior Senator from Pennsylvania has a further amendment to make 
sure the program can't be used as part of budgetary shell games that 
deliberately cloud Federal accounting. I will support both Senator 
Toomey's amendment and our colleagues' legislation later today.
  But on this subject, for goodness' sake, elected officials should not 
just be racing to replenish the Crime Victims Fund before it runs out. 
Leaders at local, State, and Federal levels should be acting to 
confront the surge in violent crime that is plaguing our Nation.
  For about a year now, the political left has grown obsessed with the 
notion that police officers are inherently bad, policing is inherently 
evil, and what vulnerable neighborhoods really need is less enforcement 
of the laws.
  As one House Member has informed us:

       Defunding police means defunding police.

  Another put it this way:

       Defunding the police isn't radical, it is real.

  Well, academic research has confirmed something troubling. The broad 
anti-police backlash that sometimes follows high-profile, police-
involved incidents subsequently leads to less safety, more crime, and 
more murders. Sure enough, murders have shot up in cities and 
communities all across our country.
  My hometown of Louisville has seen 66 percent more homicides than we 
had seen by this time last year--66 percent more. Last year was a 
record year for carjackings and yet Louisville is on pace to match it 
once again. The city's police department is short more than 200 sworn 
officers due to low recruitment, low morale, and resignations.
  Leaders should be working to contain this damage, but instead of 
delivering a sober, responsible message, many of the most prominent 
Democratic politicians instead grabbed their megaphones and amplified 
the anti-police sentiment as loud as possible.
  As I have noted before, attacking and insulting the police is not 
just a bad strategy for public safety across the board; the data shows 
it is an especially disruptive approach to advancing racial justice.
  The truth is this:

       Larger police forces save lives and the lives saved are 
     disproportionately Black lives.

  That is another expert study.
  So I am glad the Senate will take the important step today of 
reforming and strengthening the Crime Victims Fund. It certainly belies 
any notion that we can't legislate in a bipartisan way. We absolutely 
can and we do. When a bipartisan outcome is what the Democratic 
majority leader truly wants, it actually makes it possible.
  But I wish anti-crime, pro-police, pro-public safety attitudes and 
policies could be just as bipartisan at the State, local, and Federal 
levels as today's vote will likely be. Standing up for law enforcement 
and the innocent people they protect should never be limited to one 
side of the aisle.

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