Political Quotes

“this week marks the 30th annual National Crime Victims' Rights Week. It is a time to recognize victims of crime and their families and to acknowledge the efforts to help them recover and rebuild their lives in the wake of tragedy. It is also a time to ask what more we can do to help serve victims of crime and improve our criminal justice system. We have an opportunity this week to pass a bill that will not just pay lipservice to crime victims but actually impact and improve their lives. It is time to pass the Justice for All Act. The Justice for All Act is a bipartisan bill that Senator Cornyn and I introduced nearly 1 year ago to improve the quality of justice in this country. It was approved by the Judiciary Committee in October by a unanimous voice vote, and it cleared the Democratic side of the hotline on March 27. However, it still has not passed the Senate because Senate Republicans object. For reasons that have not been explained, Republicans have failed to consent to passing this commonsense bill. This is no way to treat victims of crime, especially during a week when we seek to honor them. The Justice for All Act reauthorizes the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Reduction Act, which has provided significant funding to reduce the backlog of untested rape kits so that victims need not live in fear while kits languish in storage. That program is named after Debbie Smith, who waited years for her rape kit to be tested.…”