[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5860]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMS' RIGHTS WEEK

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, yesterday marked the official beginning 
of National Crime Victims' Rights Week. Since 1981, communities in 
Vermont and across the Nation have observed this week with candlelight 
vigils and public rallies to renew our commitment to crime victims and 
their families. It is vitally important that we recognize the needs of 
crime victims and their family members, and work together to promote 
victims' rights and services.
  We have been able to make some progress during the past 27 years to 
provide victims with greater rights and assistance. In particular, I 
was honored to support the passage of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, 
VOCA, Public Law 98-473, which established the Crime Victims Fund. The 
Crime Victims Fund allows the Federal Government to provide grants to 
State crime victim compensation programs, direct victim assistance 
services, and services to victims of Federal crimes. Nearly 90 percent 
of the Crime Victims Fund is used to award victim assistance formula 
grants and provide State crime victim compensation. These VOCA-funded 
victim assistance programs serve nearly 4 million crime victims each 
year, including victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child 
abuse, elder abuse, and drunk driving, as well as survivors of homicide 
victims. Our VOCA-funded compensation programs have helped hundreds of 
thousands of victims of violent crime.
  The Crime Victims Fund is the Nation's premier vehicle for supporting 
victims' services. It is important to understand that the Crime Victims 
Fund does not receive a dime from tax revenue or appropriated funding. 
Instead, it is made up of criminal fines, forfeited bail bonds, 
penalties, and special assessments.
  In 1995, after the Oklahoma City bombing, I proposed and Congress 
passed the Victims of Terrorism Act of 1995. Among other important 
matters, this legislation authorized the Office for Victims of Crime at 
the Department of Justice to set aside an emergency reserve as part of 
the Crime Victims Fund to serve as a ``rainy day'' resource to 
supplement compensation and assistance grants to States to provide 
emergency relief in the wake of an act of terrorism or mass violence 
that might otherwise overwhelm the resources of a State's crime victims 
compensation program and crime victims assistance services.
  Over the last several years we have made sure that the Crime Victims 
Fund would remain dedicated to crime victims. We made sure that it 
would serve as a ``rainy day'' fund and reserve to help meet crime 
victims' needs. The ``rainy day'' fund has been used to make up the 
difference between annual deposits and distributions three times during 
the past 7 years. It provides security and continuity to crime victims 
programs and to our State partners.
  Since fiscal year 2000, Congress has set a cap on annual obligations 
from the Crime Victims Fund. I have worked to ensure that the cap has 
never resulted in resources being lost to the Crime Victims Fund. I 
believe we need to increase the cap. With the failure of the Bush 
administration crime prevention policies, crime began to rise under 
Attorney General Gonzales. Crime victims, the States and service 
providers need more assistance.
  Instead of taking that salutary action, the Bush administration is 
proposing to raid the Crime Victims Fund and zero it out. The future of 
the Crime Victims Fund is in danger because the Bush administration has 
proposed rescinding all amounts remaining in the Crime Victims Fund at 
the end of fiscal year 2009--just cleaning it out and leaving the 
cupboard bare. That would leave the Crime Victims Fund with a zero 
balance going into fiscal year 2010 and create a disastrous situation 
for providers of victims' services. That is wrong.
  Over the last few years, we have successfully blocked the Bush 
administration's past attempts to raid the Crime Victims Fund. This is 
not a cache of money from which this administration should try to 
reduce the budget deficits it has created. It has turned a $5 trillion 
budget surplus into a $9.4 trillion debt. Its annual deficits run into 
the hundreds of millions. It is wrong to try to pay for its failed 
fiscal policies by emptying out the Crime Victims Fund. These resources 
are set aside to assist victims of crime.
  In order to preserve the Crime Victims Fund once again, Senator Crapo 
and I, as well as 25 other Senators, sent a letter on April 4, 2008, to 
the Senate Appropriations Committee asking that the committee to oppose 
the administration's proposal to empty the Crime Victims Fund. We asked 
the Committee, instead, to permit unobligated funds to remain in the 
Crime Victims Fund, in accordance with current law, to be used for 
needed programs and services that are so important to victims of crime 
in the years ahead.
  We need to renew our national commitment to crime victims. The Senate 
can help by recognizing the importance of the Crime Victims' Fund and 
supporting its essential role in helping crime victims and their 
families meet critical expenses, recover from the horrific crimes they 
endured, and move forward with their lives. I urge Senators on both 
sides of the aisle to honor our longstanding commitment to crime 
victims by working together to recognize and support victims of crime, 
and to preserve the Crime Victims Fund.

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