Voca Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, across America, we can hear the cries of those who have been victims of crime. It is not in any way distinguished by communities, race, age, or sex. It prevails in our society.

I am reminded of the tragedy of two brothers on a crime spree killing a man and kidnapping a woman. Those are victims of crimes. Their families are victims of crimes.

I can assure you, Madam Speaker, that we stand collectively, as Members of Congress, recognizing that VOCA is crucial to responding to restorative justice for victims.

The Federal grants used to support victim services through VOCA have decreased significantly over the past several years. Further drastic cuts to VOCA funding are expected as the nontaxpayer-funded pool from which these grants originated, the Crime Victims Fund, is running dry.

I am delighted to be an original cosponsor with Chairman Nadler, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Ms. Scanlon, and to have worked with Congresswoman Wagner over the years on this very important legislation.

Further drastic cuts to VOCA are expected as the nontaxpayer-funded pool from which these grants originate, the Crime Victims Fund, is running dry. The Crime Victims Fund serves as an example of true justice because the money used to support victims comes, not from taxpayer dollars but, rather, from the criminal fines and penalties paid by federally convicted offenders.

The Crime Victims Fund has shrunk rapidly in recent years and continues to decline because, rather than prosecuting cases, the Department of Justice increasingly settles cases through deferred prosecution and nonprosecution agreements, and the monetary penalties associated with these agreements are deposited in the Treasury rather than the Crime Victims Fund.

We don't want to pit one form of reform against one great need. These agreements may diminish the ability of VOCA to be funded because of the lack of dollars going into the fund. The crimes for which these penalties are derived are the same whether they are prosecuted or settled, and the funding should be given to serve victims.

The VOCA Fix Act of 2021 fixes this by ensuring that monetary penalties associated with deferred and nonprosecution agreements go into the Crime Victims Fund instead of into the Treasury. It is common sense. Victims are outcrying their need for relief.

This simple fix will prevent future funding cuts that jeopardize programs' abilities to serve their communities and will help address the many growing and unmet needs of victims and survivors, including survivors of domestic violence.

We will be on the floor tomorrow with the opportunity to vote on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. There are countless examples in domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, and sex trafficking that show that victims are in need. Victims are elders, victims are young, victims are families, and victims are mothers and fathers.

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Ms. JACKSON LEE. We are doing so because we recognize the urgency and dire need faced by victims and survivors throughout this country during a pinnacle moment caused by the pandemic.

The numbers of domestic violence have gone up in cities like Houston and San Antonio and in States like Oregon and New York. We should recognize that cooperation on this legislation, in terms of improving the funding, is absolutely crucial.

Without the VOCA fix of 2021, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault will inevitably lose access to victim support services. It is leaving victims and survivors without options for safety and valuable opportunities to help them in their victimization if we don't fund this and change this process.

The VOCA fix will rebuild lives, and it will save the lives of children who have been impacted by violence against their family members.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1652, or the ``VOCA Fix Act of 2021,'' a critical piece of legislation designed to curtail and prevent future cuts to an already diminished federal victim service grants program.

This legislation must pass, because VOCA grants provides compensation to victims of crime at critical moments of desperate need.

VOCA funds could help compensate the only surviving victim of Robert Lee Haskell who, driven by vengeance, fatally shot six members of his ex-wife's family in Texas, including four children.

The survivor of Haskell's rampage, a girl of only fifteen, was shot in the head and only survived by playing dead.

VOCA funds could help compensate the wife and two children of a man killed in a home intrusion in Harris County, Texas, after an intruder entered the family's home, ordered the wife and children to lock themselves into a room, and then proceeded to shoot their husband and father.

VOCA funds could help compensate a woman who was abducted in Houston and forced to drive to an ATM at gunpoint, where she withdrew cash to give to her abductors.

VOCA funds could help compensate innumerable victims and survivors of federal crimes, but only if we pass this legislation.

VOCA grants have been vital in their support of traditional victim service providers across the nation, particularly for those organizations serving victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, trafficking, and drunk driving.

VOCA grants also fund victim compensation, which helps survivors pay medical bills, missed wages, and in the most severe cases, funeral costs.

However, the federal grants used to support victim services through VOCA have decreased significantly over the past several years.

Further drastic cuts to VOCA funding are expected, as the non- taxpayer-funded pool from which these grants originate, the Crime Victims Fund, is running dry.

The Crime Victims Fund serves as an example of true justice, because the money used to support victims comes not from taxpayer dollars but rather from the criminal fines and penalties paid by federally convicted offenders.

The Crime Victims Fund has shrunk rapidly in recent years and continues to decline, because rather than prosecuting cases, the Department of Justice increasingly settles cases through deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements, and the monetary penalties associated with these agreements are deposited into the Treasury rather than the Crime Victims Fund.

These agreements deny funding to victim services, which is contrary to the spirit of VOCA: monetary penalties from crimes should go to serve victims of crimes.

The crimes from which these penalties are derived are the same, whether they are prosecuted or settled, and the funding should be going to serve victims.

The VOCA Fix Act of 2021 fixes this by ensuring that monetary penalties associated with deferred and non-prosecution agreements go into the Crime Victims Fund instead of into the Treasury.

This simple fix will prevent future funding cuts that jeopardize programs' abilities to serve their communities and will help address the many growing and unmet needs of victims and survivors, including survivors of domestic violence. Victim Cooperation

This legislation not only recognizes that it is the victims of crime that bear the brunt of the drastic cuts being made, but also that we must protect those victims that have the courage to come forward and work together with the authorities to bring justice to their offenders.

Victims who cooperate with authorities often fear for their own safety and face pain at revisited trauma, and this legislation recognizes that rather than putting victims in further danger, we create for them a safe environment--both physically and emotionally.

Victims may be intimidated by law enforcement or other government agencies, but if we want victims to fully and freely cooperate with the authorities, we must ensure that victims feel protected and that there is no risk of becoming retraumatized.

We must also make sure that if victims cooperate with authorities, then measures to ensure the safety of victims will be provided in our government agencies working in tandem with victim service providers.

Tomorrow, the House will vote on H.R. 1620, which will reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VA WA) of 1994.

We are doing so because we recognize the urgency and dire need faced by the victims and survivors throughout this country during a significant moment of ongoing domestic violence caused by this pandemic and experienced by both women and men.

Although local victim services agencies are there to help, they are facing record numbers of clients as well as the economic consequences of the pandemic.

Without the VOCA Fix Act of 2021, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault will inevitably lose access to victim support services, leaving victims and survivors without options for safety and vulnerable to further victimization.

Madam Speaker, the time is now to deliver access to the services victims and survivors so desperately need during a critical moment when the need for victim assistance has skyrocketed, and programs are being forced to cut lifesaving services for victims.

Yes, it will be the fair assessment of justice. That is what we are here to do; fair operatives of justice. So I ask my colleagues to support this legislation and to join us tomorrow to support the Violence Against Women Act, to recognize that it is our job to promote justice.

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