Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, for nearly 15 years, the Debbie Smith Act has been the driving force behind our progress to eliminate the Nation's rape kit backlog.

Though exact numbers are difficult to estimate, experts believe there are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits in the United States. Each one of them, of course, represents a different story--the story of a sexual assault victim. Also, as a result of DNA science, it holds the key to apprehending a violent criminal and stopping them from committing further assaults.

Since the Debbie Smith Act was signed into law in 2004, more than $1 billion has been invested in State and local crime labs for DNA testing. This program also supports training for law enforcement, correctional personnel, forensic nurses, and other professionals who work with victims of sexual assault. Though the primary goal of the program is to reduce the rape kit backlog and identify attackers, processing this DNA evidence can assist investigations into other nonviolent crimes as well.

Once evidence is tested, it is uploaded into the FBI's DNA database, called CODIS. This is similar to the criminal fingerprint database but provides DNA evidence that can help identify and convict people who commit other crimes. So if it is collected as a result of a sexual assault, you may, in fact, be able to get a hit that will help you identify someone who has committed a burglary, a murder, a robbery, or some other crime. This is particularly true when somebody commits a crime in one State and moves to another State--to be able to connect the identity of the person based on their DNA, not based on where the offense was committed. According to the National Institute of Justice, 42 percent of hits in the FBI's DNA database system are the direct result of Debbie Smith Act funding--42 percent.

In addition to helping us get more criminals off the streets, this information could also be the key to exonerating individuals who were wrongly accused and preventing innocent people from being put behind bars for a crime they didn't commit. DNA evidence is very, very powerful.

States have seen the positive results of this program at the national level and have been following suit. Texas has led the Nation in passing mandatory rape kit testing laws, conducting audits of the backlog, and using Debbie Smith funds to analyze untested sexual assault evidence.

Since 2011, the Debbie Smith Act has helped Texas reduce its backlog of previously unsubmitted rape kits by approximately 90 percent--from over 20,000 kits to now around 2,000. This program has allowed us to provide victims of sexual assault with the resources they need and the answers they deserve while more effectively identifying criminals across the board.

The benefits of this law simply cannot be overstated, and that is why the Debbie Smith Act was readily reauthorized in 2008 and 2014. Now it is time to once again reauthorize this important legislation.

Earlier this year, Senator Feinstein, the senior Senator from California, and I introduced the Debbie Smith Act of 2019, which will extend this program through 2024. As you might expect, with this kind of nonpartisan legislation, it sailed through the Senate earlier this year. In fact, it passed the Senate in May with not one person voting against it. But here we are, nearly 4 months later, and the House of Representatives has not scheduled a vote. If they don't take action before September 30, the law will expire--something I hope we all can agree would be unconscionable and certainly completely unnecessary.

The benefits of this program transcend politics or party, and allowing it to expire would be a disservice to the victims and advocates who have championed this bill for the last 15 years, particularly Debbie Smith herself.

It is time for the House to vote to reauthorize the Debbie Smith Act so that we can get it to the President's desk without further delay.

One of the strongest advocates for the reauthorization of the Debbie Smith Act is the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, also known as RAINN. It is the Nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization, and in its 25-year history, it has helped 3 million survivors and their loved ones.

Last week, RAINN held a press conference announcing the delivery of more than 32,000 signatures urging the immediate passage of this legislation by the House of Representatives. Debbie Smith also spoke at the press conference.

Just to remind colleagues, Debbie is, of course, a remarkable woman whose advocacy was born from a terrible personal experience. We have had the benefit of hearing from Debbie over the years many times in the Judiciary Committee.

I believe there is no one--no one--who has done more to support victims of sexual assault than Debbie, and I am continually grateful to her for her courage and her candor as she travels around the country advocating for survivors. It can't be easy to talk about your own personal sexual assault and how you tried to grapple with the fact that your rape kit has not been tested and, thus, you don't even know who your attacker was and whether he may show up at some future date and try to repeat his crime.

During the press conference, Debbie spoke about the years of fear she dealt with while waiting for her attacker to be identified. She said: ``The years I spent waiting for justice can never be returned to me.''

That is a heartbreaking reality for survivors of sexual violence and a reminder of why it is so critical to reauthorize the Debbie Smith Act without further delay.

While we can't turn back the hands of time and somehow change history, we can act now to provide victims with the support, the answers, and the closure they need.

I urge Speaker Pelosi to bring the Debbie Smith Act of 2019 to the floor for a vote immediately in the House to demonstrate Congress's ongoing commitment to support victims of sexual violence.

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