[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 15, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S698-S699]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Violence Against Women Act

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, for three decades, the Violence Against 
Women Act has been at the forefront of our efforts to support victims 
of domestic violence and sexual assault. This legislation provides 
survivors with access to programs and resources that promote safety and 
healing. It bolsters our criminal justice response through protections 
for survivors and provides critical training for law enforcement 
officials. It prioritizes programs and grants to prevent domestic 
violence and sexual assault from occurring in the first place.
  I have been a longtime victims' rights advocate, dating back to my 
time as attorney general of my State, and I am a proud supporter of the 
Violence Against Women Act.
  And I think that is a common sentiment in this Chamber. Republicans 
and Democrats alike agree we must do more to provide services and 
protection for victims of domestic violence, even though we don't 
always agree on just exactly what those changes should look like.
  Unfortunately, like many good bipartisan ideas, this became a 
political football over time. When the time came to reauthorize the 
Violence Against Women Act in 2019, it was dragged through the gutter 
of Washington politics. Some of our friends across the aisle 
prioritized controversial partisan provisions over sound bipartisan 
policy. They even opposed a short-term reauthorization of the existing 
law when we couldn't agree. Ultimately, the Violence Against Women Act 
expired.

  Here is the good news: For 3 long years, a bipartisan group of our 
colleagues has continued to work on a longer term reauthorization, and 
for a while it looked like we were making good progress.
  Our friend from Iowa, Senator Ernst, is an unshakable advocate for 
victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and she has led 
efforts on this side of the aisle to reauthorize the Violence Against 
Women Act. She has worked with a bipartisan group of Senators to come 
up with something that is acceptable to both sides, but they have never 
been able to move past the controversial sticking points until now. 
Apparently, the tides have shifted, and I am grateful for that. After 3 
years of waiting, we have seen real progress on efforts to reauthorize 
the Violence Against Women Act.
  Last week, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation to 
extend and modernize that legislation, and I am proud to be a cosponsor 
of that. Senator Ernst from Iowa and Senator Murkowski, our Alaska 
colleague, have

[[Page S699]]

led this effort on the Republican side, and I want to commend our 
colleagues for their leadership. They have put in countless hours over 
the last few years to reach this compromise. Obviously, it was not 
easy. The fact that this bill already has more than 20 bipartisan 
cosponsors speaks volumes about their success.
  We couldn't have gotten to this point without the dedication of our 
friend, the senior Senator from California, Senator Feinstein, who has 
been engaged in these discussions from the beginning. I appreciate the 
hard work that she and Senator Durbin, the chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee, have put into this bill and their willingness to make 
sensible compromises so we can, hopefully, get this signed into law 
without further delay.
  Like all legislation, this bill is not perfect, but as the saying 
goes, you can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
  Throughout the negotiating process, I have raised concerns about some 
of the provisions, and I have seen our colleagues work in good faith 
with us to address many of those issues. There is no question, in my 
mind, that this is a good bill that will go a long way to modernize the 
Violence Against Women Act and ensure that it continues to serve 
survivors.
  The VAWA Reauthorization Act extends this legislation through 2027 
and builds on the advancements made in previous reauthorizations. It 
improves access to services, especially those in rural communities with 
fewer resources. It promotes partnerships with law enforcement and 
victim services organizations to provide victim-centered training for 
law enforcement officers. It improves grants that help school-based 
professionals connect students with victim services, and it strengthens 
existing campus grant programs for colleges and universities. It 
establishes a pilot program to support domestic violence victims 
seeking employment. It takes aim at relatively new threats, including 
cyber crimes, by establishing a national resource center on cyber 
crimes against individuals.
  This legislation also invests in a broad range of grant programs, 
trainings, and resources to support survivors of domestic violence and 
prevent similar crimes from occurring in the future.
  I am glad this legislation includes provisions from a number of 
bipartisan bills that I have introduced with colleagues here in the 
Senate.
  One example is a bill that the Presiding Officer will appreciate, 
which I introduced with Senator Coons, called the NICS Denial 
Notification Act.
  If someone attempts to purchase a gun--in other words, they lie about 
their legal qualification to purchase a gun--but is denied when the 
NICS background check system comes back with a hit, indicating that 
they are disqualified for one of a variety of legal reasons, right now, 
local law enforcement is not notified that somebody tried to buy a 
firearm and lied about it and was denied access to that firearm because 
of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
  Under current law, Federal officials are notified when individuals, 
including convicted felons and domestic abusers, fail a background 
check, but they are not required to notify State and local law 
enforcement--the people in the best position to actually be on the 
lookout for people who may be a danger to their communities and to 
themselves.
  This legislation will change that. This legislation will require the 
Department of Justice to notify the relevant State and local 
authorities within 24 hours of a failed background check.
  Now, there are some organizations that are disparaging this 
particular provision. They are basically misrepresenting what it does. 
So I want to be clear about what it does do.

  What it does do is address somebody who lies in the course of filling 
out a background check, indicating that they are not disqualified, only 
to find out, when checking the system, that they, in fact, are. 
Obviously, these folks are up to no good if they are lying about their 
ability to purchase a firearm under current law. It just makes sense, 
in addition to Federal officials being notified of convicted felons and 
domestic violence abusers, that State and local law enforcement be 
notified as well. This notification would include the name of the 
individual as well as when and where they attempted to purchase a 
firearm. This information gives law enforcement the ability to 
investigate and intervene before a potentially deadly attack occurs. It 
should set off all sorts of alarms when a convicted felon or domestic 
violence abuser lies when attempting to purchase a firearm.
  The Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act also includes 
legislation that I introduced with Senator Durbin, the chairman of the 
Senate Judiciary Committee. It is called Supporting Access to Nurse 
Exams Act.
  Sexual assault nurse examiners, known as SANEs, are on the frontlines 
of our fight to support victims of sexual assault. These are the nurses 
who perform the forensic examinations on rape victims and who help to 
identify and convict sexual offenders.
  This provision improves an existing grant program that funds sexual 
assault forensic exam programs. We don't have enough of these SANEs, or 
nurse examiners. This bill will put more money into the field in order 
to train more of these SANEs, to provide for their salaries, and to 
increase access in areas of the country that need SANEs more, 
particularly in rural areas.
  These men and women are crucial to our efforts to deliver justice, 
and this is an important step we can take to address the nationwide 
shortage of sexual assault nurses.
  Over the years, the Senate and the Congress have done a lot to 
eliminate the rape kit backlog, which at one point totaled a reported 
400,000 in backlog rape kits. These rape kits are forensic examination 
kits that contain DNA, which is so essential in identifying the 
perpetrators of sexual assault and which has the miraculous ability--or 
seemingly miraculous ability--to actually exonerate some people who may 
be misidentified through visual identification.
  It also helps, over a period of a long time, to identify people who 
may have evaded prosecution because of the statute of limitations. Many 
of these individuals who commit these sexual assaults will do so on a 
serial basis. So once we have been able to identify them through 
successful rape kit evaluations, we can bring them to justice.
  Once again, I want to commend Senators Ernst and Murkowski for their 
tireless efforts, on behalf of victims nationwide, to get us to this 
point.
  The Violence Against Women Act has changed the lives--improved the 
lives, actually--of countless survivors of domestic violence and sexual 
assault. So it is time for us to come together and reauthorize this 
crucial program.
  I am proud to support this legislation, and I hope Senator Schumer, 
the majority leader, can find time to put it on the Senate's calendar 
and vote it out without delay.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.