Political Quotes

“I am delighted that we last week reached a compromise enabling Congress to send another 5-year reauthorization of the Debbie Smith Act to the President's desk this week. Both Chambers' adoption of that compromise, which passed the Senate by voice vote last night, with my support, signals Congress's continued support for the DNA Backlog and Capacity Enhancement Program. Earlier this year, I called for reforms to the grant program that the Debbie Smith Act established. These reforms, suggested this year by the Government Accountability Office, would require both that the Justice Department articulate measurable, program-wide goals and that the National Institute of Justice take additional steps to prevent lobbying-related conflicts of interest. They would not resolve every issue with this grant program, but I believe the implementation of such reforms would substantially strengthen the program. I also advocated for reforms, which are included in the final legislation, that ensure the analysis of untested DNA in sexual assault cases is accorded higher priority under this program. As mentioned earlier this week, I have called on the Attorney General to implement several of my proposed reforms through administrative action. I thank the Attorney General for committing to do so, in the attached letter dated December 11, 2019.…”