Amy Klobuchar: “I thank Senator Cornyn and Senator Hutchison for their words and their work. I rise to discuss my amendment that would…”

“I thank Senator Cornyn and Senator Hutchison for their words and their work. I rise to discuss my amendment that would respond to the problems we are seeing with rape kit backlogs, which Senator Cornyn has identified, while also reforming what we know is working well on this issue. This amendment would amend the Debbie Smith Act, which, similar to the Violence Against Women Act, has a history of bipartisan support. The Debbie Smith Act, as you know, was enacted in 2004. It was named after a courageous survivor of sexual assault. What this amendment does is to basically increase the percentage of Debbie Smith grant funds that are available for use in testing the backlog of rape kits. We raise the current percentage of 40 percent up to 70 percent. So it is a significant change. The amendment also asks the National Institute of Justice to develop protocols to help law enforcement with sexual assault cases and to provide technical assistance and training to law enforcement and local governments. The amendment also allows funds to be used for auditing rape kit backlogs, which is one of the important issues Senator Cornyn's amendment addresses. The difference between Senator Cornyn's amendment and my amendment is that mine does not mandate that a minimum percentage of funds be used for audit. Senator Cornyn's amendment also has provisions such as subpoena authority for U.S.…”