Ted Poe: “I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Violence against women is awful. I think we can all agree with that. Behind the…”

“I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Violence against women is awful. I think we can all agree with that. Behind the scenes in homes throughout America, behind closed doors bad things are happening in those families. It is violent. It affects the spouse, the children, and the quality of life of our community. Today, the House of Representatives can do something about that to make America safer for women, primarily, and their children. We have two choices before us today: the House bill, the Senate bill. But there's another thing going on behind closed doors in America as well, and that's sexual assault that is occurring in America. I spent time on the bench as a judge in criminal cases in Texas for 22 years; and one of the greatest scientific, forensic discoveries was DNA. It's helped prosecute sexual assault cases. DNA: when those outlaws commit sexual assault crimes against primarily women and children, they leave DNA evidence, it's examined, and we find out who the criminal was. But here's the problem: there are 400,000 DNA rape kits that have not been tested, some going back 20 and 25 years. They're so old that when it's determined who the outlaw is, they can't be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has run; 400,000 cases where rape victims are waiting for us to just analyze those sexual assault cases.…”