National Crime Victims' Rights Week
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today, I come to the floor to support National Crime Victims' Rights Week.
For many years, I have pressed the Department of Justice to do its part to shore up what is called the Crime Victims Fund. That fund supports victims and survivors of crime across the Nation.
On Monday, I, along with Senators Ernst, Crapo, and Risch, sent a letter to the Department of Justice. That letter urges the Department of Justice to ensure that criminal fines and penalties are collected and deposited into the Crime Victims Fund.
I made this request because last Congress, my oversight revealed Biden administration failures. Specifically, since the enactment of the Victims of Crime Act Fix in 2021, the Biden Justice Department failed to collect and deposit more than $1 billion in criminal fines and penalties, which belongs to this fund. Instead, the Biden administration allowed the fines to be paid to foreign governments and elsewhere.
Since my oversight shined the light on the Biden Justice Department's failures and misguided approach, the Department of Justice inspector general opened its own independent audit. And at my request, the Government Accountability Office also agreed to review the Department of Justice's administration of this Crime Victims Fund.
History has shown that sunshine is the best disinfectant. Since my Crime Victims Fund oversight began, the balance increased from $1 billion in 2023--the lowest in over a decade--to its current balance of $4-3/10 billion. Now, those figures that I just gave you came from the Department of Justice statistics.
The Department of Justice must ensure that the Crime Victims Fund has adequate resources, and if the Department of Justice doesn't, organizations across the Nation helping survivors and helping victims of crime are at serious risk of potentially closing their doors and not being able to continue this help.
The Department of Justice shouldn't allow the mistakes of the Biden administration to happen again.
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