Providing for Consideration of H.R. Homeland Security Improvement Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. U.S. Border Patrol Medical Screening Standards Act; Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Expressing Sense of the House with Respect to Whistleblower Complaint Made to Inspector General of Intelligence Community; and for Other Purposes
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Mr. Speaker, I, like many people growing up thought murder was the worst crime you could have in this country. However, my career as a criminal defense attorney and as a legal guardian ad litem for victims of sexual assault has taught me that is not true. Violent sexual assault is the most terrible crime that can be committed, and, as opposed to other things, victims of that crime have to relive it when they are interviewed by law enforcement, they have to relive it when they are interviewed by doctors and nurses, they have to relive it when they are interviewed by prosecutors, and they oftentimes have to relive it as they navigate through the criminal justice system.
We have all heard stories about light sentences in different areas, especially when it comes under these cases. One of the main reasons for that is because of the nature of the crime and the unwillingness of victims to continue to go through this process as they move through the courtroom. I have done this in a court of law. I have helped victims navigate this.
The single biggest predicator for getting a conviction without a jury trial is DNA evidence. This puts really bad people in jail, it protects victims, it protects future victims, and, more importantly, it protects the very victims who are there from having to deal with this and navigate it.
In 5 days this expires. The FBI has said that 475,000 matches have happened through this DNA testing; of that 42 percent of those are directly related to the Debbie Smith law. This should be the only thing we are talking about in this town, because I cannot imagine that we do not have broad, bipartisan agreement, and it should be the previous question on every single bill until we get it passed.
I understand how we work, and I understand how things move around, but there is absolutely no reason this should be used as a bargaining chip for anything else. This is simple, this is commonsense, this is good law enforcement, and this protects victims of the most dangerous and despicable crime that can be committed on them.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source