Sheila Jackson Lee: “As a senior member of the Judiciary, Committee, I rise in strong support of H.R. 8354, the ``Servicemembers and Veterans…”

“As a senior member of the Judiciary, Committee, I rise in strong support of H.R. 8354, the ``Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative Act of 2020,'' which would permanently establish the Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative (SVI) within the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Civil Rights Division. I thank my colleague from Texas, Congresswoman Escobar (TX-16), for introducing this important legislation, which I am proud to be a cosponsor. The Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative Act details SVI's responsibilities to promote the legal interests of servicemembers, veterans, and their families within the Department of Justice. Among the responsibilities of the SVI would be to make policy on behalf of the Attorney General on legal issues that impact servicemembers, veterans, and their families and appoint a liaison to the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division to coordinate Federal prosecutions involving cases of fraud against servicemembers. SVI currently has no formal statutory authorization so assigning a liaison in SVI to coordinate criminal fraud prosecutions is critical to protecting servicemembers. Civil actions initiated by DOJ have not, thus far, stemmed the rising number of fraud schemes, in housing in particular, that target servicemembers. Criminal prosecutions, available under the current fraud statutes, would provide a strong deterrent to widespread efforts to defraud servicemembers.…”