[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[HO]
[Pages 14390-14391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Walberg) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, although criminal forfeiture laws have been 
an important tool and a useful tool for law enforcement, civil asset 
forfeiture has been used too many times to seize, forfeit, and indeed 
profit off the property of Americans without even charging them with 
crimes--innocent until proven guilty.
  The activity can be a boon for police budgets, as the Federal asset 
forfeiture fund exceeded $2 billion in 2013 and equitable sharing 
agreements between the Department of Justice and local police 
departments accounted for over $600 million.
  While policing certainly is a vital element of an effective society, 
let's also be mindful of the fact that our Constitution emphasizes 
individual rights above all. For this reason, I introduced H.R. 5212, 
the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act, to limit the scope, the power, 
and the reach of the government to abuse their forfeiture powers in 
violation of individual rights guaranteed to us by our Constitution.
  I urge all my colleagues to support this needed reform effort and to 
again assure our citizens of their civil liberties and the opportunity 
to defend innocence or prove guilt.

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