Debbie Smith Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1105) to amend the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to reauthorize the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 1105

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Debbie Smith Act of 2023''. SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION.

Section 2(j) of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C. 40701(j)) is amended by striking ``fiscal years 2019 through 2024'' and inserting ``fiscal years 2024 through 2029''. SEC. 3. AUDITS TO PROTECT INTEGRITY OF GRANT AWARDS.

Section 2(c)(4) of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C. 40701(c)(4)) is amended by striking ``2022'' and inserting ``2029''.

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Mr. ISSA. 1105.

Mr. Speaker, much has been said, but I am going to close with just two important items. One is that there is no question at all but that this has been a good reauthorization because it calls for the accountability and the audit to find out why the backlog persists and to find ways to eliminate it. Second is its original purpose. Its original purpose, more than anything else, is very simple. There are hundreds of rapists out there, and they will continue to perpetrate their crimes until they are caught. This DNA evidence, in fact, takes rapists off the street that otherwise will be committing these crimes, violating other persons, until they are stopped. For that reason, we must reauthorize and appropriate for this legislation. It is critical that we take these evil people off the street. This is the way to do it.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1105, the ``Debbie Smith Act of 2023,'' a bill that would reauthorize critical grant funding aimed at ending the rape kit backlog.

As the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, I am proud to be one of four original cosponsors of this bipartisan legislation, and I am proud to stand with Representative Steve Cohen and Representative Wesley Hunt.

And I am encouraged by the number of cosponsors--Republicans and Democrats--who have joined us, including Judiciary Ranking Member Nadler, Crime Subcommittee Chairman Biggs, and many other members of the Judiciary Committee.

This bill was introduced by Representative Ann Wagner, who I have worked with on many occasions to ensure that victims of crime receive justice. And this is one such measure.

H.R. 1105 reauthorizes legislation that provides resources to state and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to reduce the national backlog of DNA evidence, most notably, rape kits.

Although DNA evidence has proven critical to solving crimes and delivering justice, particularly in crimes of sexual violence, there are still challenges to holding offenders accountable using such evidence.

Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors increasingly collect and rely on DNA evidence, such as rape kits, to investigate and solve crimes.

But delays in processing rape kits and other DNA evidence can result in delays in apprehending or prosecuting violent or serial offenders. It can also result in the wrongfully convicted serving time in prison for crimes they did not commit.

For every rape kit or DNA sample that languishes on a shelf, untested, in a crime lab or police department somewhere in America, there is at least one victim--possibly living in fear and most certainly searching for an end to their nightmare.

That is why, as Ranking Member Nadler said, it is imperative that we end the rape kit backlog.

Since passage of the Debbie Smith Act in 2004, as the firs piece of legislation aimed at ending the backlog of untested and unanalyzed DNA evidence--more than 860,000 DNA cases have been processed with over 376,000 DNA profiles uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System, commonly referred to as CODIS, and nearly 200,000 DNA samples have been matched.

Research has shown that testing backlogged kits can lead to CODIS hits as well as arrests and convictions.

One study of 491 untested kits in the possession of the Houston Police Department yielded l04 CODIS hits after testing, and 16 of those hits led to an arrest. Debbie Smith grants have helped reduce the backlog in jurisdictions in every corner of the country.

For instance, the New York Times reported that my home state of Texas had a backlog of approximately 20,000 untested kits in 2013.

According to a report by the Dallas Morning News, that number was reduced to just over 6,000 by 2021.

Unfortunately, a measure of the progress made in reducing the national backlog was lost due to the COVID-l9 pandemic.

However, recognizing the accomplishments made since the Debbie Smith Act first became law, I am confident that we will once again reduce the number of untested samples and rape kits and eventually end the backlog.

The Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program provides grants to state and local governments for nine major purposes that include (1) conducting analyses of DNA samples; (2) increasing the capacity of state and local laboratories to carry out DNA analyses; and (3) ensuring that the testing and analysis of DNA samples from crimes, including sexual assault and violent crime are carried out in a timely manner.

The program also provides funds to process offender DNA samples to ensure evidence from unsolved crimes can be matched to the databases of known offenders as in the case of the woman for which this bill was named.

The perpetrator who kidnapped and raped Debbie Smith was identified using a DNA sample collected from him while he was serving 161 years in prison for robbing and abducting two women.

The ``hit'' connecting this individual to her rape was not made until the DNA evidence was analyzed and uploaded to CODIS six and a half years later.

In an op-ed written in 2019, Mrs. Smith said, ``For six and a half years, I lived in the fear that he would return or, even worse, that he would take out his revenge on my children or my husband. That fear held me so tightly that it choked out any joy of life.''

Her fears and thoughts of suicide--simply to find peace--changed when the results of her rape kit analysis identified her rapist.

I am grateful that Mrs. Smith brought this issue to Congress and advocated for victims like herself.

It is now up to Congress to make certain that every victim and every survivor experiences the relief she felt knowing that her rapist could no longer do harm to her, her loved ones, or her communIty.

That is why I will do all that I can to ensure that every rape kit is tested, and every sample is analyzed so that no survivor's voice is silenced and no victim's cry for justice goes unanswered, and that no criminal goes free because of a failure to act.

That includes supporting this bill and encouraging my colleagues to do the same.

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