Debbie Smith Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, over the last few months, I have spoken at length on the Senate floor about a bill I introduced earlier this year to reauthorize the Debbie Smith Act--legislation to help us end the nationwide rape kit backlog.

This legislation carries the name of a fierce and courageous woman--a sexual assault survivor whose advocacy was born of her personal experience.

Three decades ago, Debbie Smith was taken from her home and taken to a wooded area where she was robbed and raped by an unknown attacker. She reported the crime to police and went to the emergency room for a forensic exam, but because of the rape kit backlog, she had to wait 6\1/2\ years before finally receiving the call that her attacker had been identified through a DNA test.

During that time, she lived in constant fear, wondering who he was, where he was, and whether he would return to hurt her again. Identifying offenders through DNA evidence is critical to providing not only justice but peace of mind for those assaulted and delivering justice to victims, and, yes, even exonerating the innocent. The power of DNA testing is such that it can essentially rule out people from being the alleged assailant or the actual assailant. So this is really important for a number of reasons.

Sharing this information across State lines through the Federal system can help us identify repeat offenders who would otherwise go undetected. Knowing the potential impact, Debbie became one of our Nation's most vocal advocates for eliminating rape kit backlogs, including the reprehensible rape kit backlog I have been speaking about.

In 2004, a bill that carries her name was signed into law to help local and State crime labs partner with Federal law enforcement to receive resources to end the Federal DNA evidence backlog. It is because of the Debbie Smith Act that more than a billion dollars has been provided to forensic labs across the country.

Since 2005, more than 860,000 DNA cases have been processed, accounting for 43 percent of all forensic profiles in the FBI's DNA database.

The Debbie Smith Act has also been central in eliminating the rape kit backlog in my home State of Texas, which had reached the point of more than 20,000 untested kits at one point earlier this decade.

As I said at the beginning, I introduced the Debbie Smith Act of 2019 to reauthorize this important funding stream that supports the auditing, testing, and sharing of DNA evidence so we can eliminate that backlog and ensure that it will not grow again in the future. The benefits of continuing the programs created under the original Debbie Smith Act cannot be overstated, and we must get this important legislation to the President's desk before it expires at the end of September.

Since it was first enacted in 2004, the Debbie Smith Act has never lapsed or expired, and there is no excuse for allowing it to expire or lapse this year. This bill is not controversial; it is not partisan; and it is not divisive. In fact, when it came to the Senate floor, not a single Senator voted against it.

Since we passed the legislation in May, the House of Representatives has sat on its hands and has done nothing. After repeated requests from myself, our other colleagues, and countless victims' advocates, Speaker Pelosi has refused to bring the Debbie Smith Act up for a vote.

Earlier this week, the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents more than 348,000 members, sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy urging the House to move this legislation.

We also heard from the National District Attorneys Association, RAINN, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, and several other law enforcement and victims' rights groups which are fully supportive of this legislation. All of us are ready for the House to act.

I urge Speaker Pelosi to take up the Debbie Smith Act once the House returns to Washington in September and before it expires or lapses. It is simply unconscionable to let unrelated partisan bickering stop a bill that brings justice to victims.

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