the debbie smith legislation is important but the justice for all act is a lot better than that. why don't we approve that? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. reid: yes, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the republican whip. mr. cornyn: the majority leader thinks this is a zero-sum game. this could be a win-win. debbie smith who i've met and i dare say virtually every member of this body knows, is a passionate advocate for this cause, and hence the naming of this statute, this law on her behalf. because she recognized that these unprocessed rape kits was a national scandal and that people like her, who had been victims of sexual assault, needed help from the federal government to help provide funds to local law enforcement agencies to test and process these kits so as to identify the perpetrator and get them off the street. so what debbie smith has asked me and i dare say the majority leader and all of us to do is to take up this piece of the bill. we can do that, and i think we will have done a good thing today. if we can't take up the justice for

the debbie smith act is important. but the justice for all act -- >> is there objection? >> yes. >> the h objection is heard. republican whip. >> mr. president, the majority leaderco thinks this is zero-sum game. this could be a win-win. debbie smith, who i have met and i dare say, virtually every member ofre this body has, know, is a passionate advocate for this cause and hence the naming of this statute, this law, on her behalf. because she recognized that these unprocessed rape kits was a national scandal and that people like her who had been victims of sexual assault needed help from the federal government to t help provide fund to local law enforcement agencies to test ancid process these kits so as o identify the perpetrator and get them off the street. so, what debbie smith has asked me and i dare say the majority leader and all ofit us to do, is take up this piece of a bill. we can do that, around think we will have done a good thing today. if we can't take up the justice for all act because of other concerns people have, this shouldn't be a zero-sum game. we coul

debbie smith -- the debbie smith act has helped state and local law enforcement reduce the nation's largebacklog of untested d.n.a. samples, grants the use of hire personnel and processes samples and using them in the combined d.n.a. index system. grants have been directed to d.n.a. training and technical assistance for law enforcement and courts and to sexual assault nurse examiner programs. cribela are aers to have almost unanimously reported -- laboratories have almost nanimously reported that their backlog still remains. hundreds of thousands of examples, each representing an unsolved crime, remains untested. mr. speaker, regrettably, over 200 untested samples remain in los angeles alone that have outlasted the statute of limitations for prosecuting cases, so we have to do everything we can to process these samples. we must do everything we can also to strengthen our national -- nationwide database and reduce the d.n.a. backlog so cases of sexual assault can be solved and prosecuted without delay. re-authorizing the debbie smith act will bring perpetrators of sexual assault to justice

debbie smith, who i've met and i does state virtually every member of the body knows. hence the naming of the statute in the law on her behalf because she recognized the unprocessed rape kit was a national scandal and the people like her but have been victims of the sexual assault needed help from the federal government to help provide funds to local law enforcement agencies to process the kids and serves to identify the perpetrator and get them off the street. so what debbie smith has asked me and i daresay the majority leader and all of us to do is to take up this piece of the bill. we can do that and i think that we will have done a good thing today. if we can't pick up the justice for all act because of other concerns. we can pass the debbie smith act today and then we can take up the justice for all act when we return following the recess. it doesn't have to be a zero-sum game. >> the majority leader backs syndicate has been cleared up for more than two weeks. more than two weeks. this is what is going on in the senate. the republicans basically oppose everything.

i've had the pleasure of meeting debbie smith for whom this legislation was named, and she has become a tireless advocate for the sorts of reforms and improved funding that is -- are contained in the safer act and in the justice for all reauthorization. but the safer act, where we mandated that more of the money that the federal government granted must be used to actually test old rape kits as well as dedicated a portion of that money to inventory, those that had been sitting on police locker -- evidence locker shelves or had been sent to laboratories but not been yet tested. but this law passed in 2013 has already played a crucial role in making more federal support available for tackling the rape kit backlog. i was proud to introduce that legislation, and i'm proud to sponsor reauthorization of the justice for all act. and as i said a moment ago, i'm enormously gratified and proud of of wha what these laws have d us accomplish. upholding victims s. rights and -- uptolding victims s upholdins should never be stopped. we have a long way to go. it is incouraging to see the progress tha

debbie smith is a constituent of mine. the horror she endured while waiting 6 1/2 years for the d.n.a. to be tested is beyond unacceptable. what is even more unacceptable is that during the time of delay, her attacker abducted and robbed two other women. the d.n.a. sample had been tested in a timely manner, it is almost certain that those two women would not have been victims of crime. the debbie smith act helps ensure that we can bring perpetrators to justice more quickly and help survivors on the road to recovery. madam speaker, during sexual assault awareness month, we need to focus on actions that we can take to reduce the incidents of sexual assault. for example, we have a profound responsibility to the children within our foster care system, and unfortunately we have found that in the process -- those in foster care have experienced sexual assault at a much greater rate than average. ensuring that that safety is a responsibility that we have. a study showed that nearly 70% of children who fall victim to child sexual

smith. >> the one that hatched on sunday actually hatched on the right day, though? >> yes. >> reporter: in debbie young's fifth grade class in suburban pittsburgh this spring, there's been an unmistakable air of anticipation. >> it was actually really exciting to see how the eggs hatch. >> you could see it was opening up and coming out. >> reporter: for weeks the kids have been keeping an eye on the nest of bald eagles. eagles and their eggs. two eaglets have hatched in the last week, a third could hatch at any minute. the eagle family is in a giant nest just five miles from downtown pittsburgh. a big deal because naturalists say because of industrialization there haven't been bald eagles here in more than 200 years. >> i think that it says that pittsburgh is a great place to live, both for humans and birds. right? if a place is good enough for birds to live in happily and healthily, you can be sure it's good for people as well. >> reporter: the eaglecam went up in december and has provided moments of drama only nature can provide. the first egg is laid, then another. one night not long after, a

act was named after debbie smith, who has dedicated her life to making sure that congress keeps focused on this rape kit backlog problem and scandal. and she is one of the biggest cheerleaders for this law that now bears her name. this is also the name for the portion of the law that allocates funds to the department ofer justice tdepartr grant programs in law enforcement agencies around the country who may not have the money or expertise or the wherewithal to be able to test these rape kit backlogs. so it's not just my position that these two provisions that the house has passed should be taken up and passed by the senate and then we'll catch up in due course with the entire justice for all afnlg act. but that's not just my position. it's also the national center for victims of crime and of course debbie smith herself, which many a confident many of my colleagues have -- which i am a confident many of my colleagues have -- which i'm confident many of my colleagues have heard from her. those folks support bigger provisions of the bill but if we can't do that, they support us pas