[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 6284-6285]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2013

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 8, 2012

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5326) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, 
     Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2013, and for other purposes:

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to support the amendment by 
Congressman Davis to H.R. 5326, the Departments of Commerce and 
Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Fiscal Year 2013 Appropriations 
bill to provide the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) with the resources 
it requested for Second Chance Act programs.
  First, I want to thank Congressman Davis for offering this amendment. 
He is the champion of helping offenders reenter the community and our 
country is a better place because of Mr. Davis's efforts.
  Second Chance Act programs provide employment assistance and job-
skills training, substance abuse treatment, housing assistance, family-
based programming, individual and group mentoring and victim support 
for offenders reentering their communities.
  The Republican CJS Appropriations Bill shortchanges Second Chance Act 
programs by $10 million but provides $95 million more than DOJ 
requested for other programs. There is clearly money available to fully 
fund Second Chance Act programs.
  We should be fully funding Second Chance Act programs because the 
number of individuals in prison and jails is at an all-time high. 
Federal and state corrections facilities held one of every 201 U.S. 
residents in 2010 or 1.6 million individuals.
  These individuals will eventually come back into the community and 
Second Chance Act programs can help them with this transition so they 
do not end up back in prison.
  Studies show that more than four in 10 offenders returned to state 
prison within three years of their release.
  However, Second Chance Act programs have proved to help reduce this 
rate and we need to keep the momentum going by providing full funding 
in FY 13.
  We need to do everything we can to help these individuals stay out of 
prison not only because it is the right thing to do but also because 
the cost of incarcerating people is ballooning. If current trajectories 
continue, state and federal prisons will grow by 13 percent by 2013, 
adding an additional 192,000 prisoners at a cost of $27.5 billion.
  Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support Mr. Davis's amendment.

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