Jerry Nadler: “I rise in support of the DOJ authorization bill because it does enhance the Violence Against Women Office and increase…”

“I rise in support of the DOJ authorization bill because it does enhance the Violence Against Women Office and increase assistance to our law enforcement officers. I also applaud the provision of the bill that directs the Attorney General to conduct a study to assess the number of untested rape examination kits that currently exist nationwide. However, I know we could have done more. It would be nice to know how many rape kits are outstanding. But it is much more important that we fund the DNA analysis of the kits and solve crimes, rather than simply counting how many kits remain on the shelf. We know there are outstanding kits, anywhere from 150,000 to 500,000 of them, and we need money to test them. Asking for a study doesn't put any rapists behind bars. Now, you may ask, what else could we possibly do about this? Well, we could have put money for testing into the DOJ authorization bill. In fact, I asked the distinguished Chairman to do just that. He told me the study was the best he could do. Well, I know we can do better. In fact, the Senate already has.”