On the recordApril 3, 2019
Madam Chair, I support this amendment, which would make entities found by the Attorney General to have fraudulently misused VAWA grant funds ineligible to apply for future grants for up to 5 years. This amendment tries to guard against the potential misuse of grant funds, but it does so in a way that safeguards due process, after reasonable notice and opportunity for a hearing. Any misuse of funds that does not rise to the level of fraud, or that is merely an error, is insufficient to make a grantee ineligible for funds and only places a temporary, but sufficiently lengthy, ban on receipt of funding. Because this is a commonsense measure, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
