On the recordJuly 10, 2019
throughout my career, dating back to my days as Texas attorney general, I have long been a proud advocate for crime victims' rights. I believe we all have a responsibility to provide men and women impacted by such traumatic events the resources and care they need when they need it. Right now the Congress has an opportunity to pass two separate pieces of legislation to support victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Sadly, both bills have been caught in the crosshairs of political jockeying in the House, with Democrats using a tit-for-tat strategy that has frozen both bills. One of those bills is called the Debbie Smith Act. The namesake of this legislation is a woman whom I have had the honor of working with many times over the years. She is a fierce advocate for victims of sexual assault. Like so many victims, her advocacy was born from a personal experience. In 1989, she was abducted from her home and raped in a wooded area. She reported the crime to police and went to the emergency room for a forensic examination, but there were no immediate answers. Though exact numbers are difficult to estimate, some experts believe that there are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits that remain across the United States. For 6\1/2\ years the DNA evidence of Debbie's attacker sat on a shelf in an evidence locker while she constantly wondered who her attacker was and when he would appear again.…
Source
govinfo.gov




