Senate Begins Considering FY2008 Commerce, Justice, Science Spending Bill

On October 4, the Senate began its consideration of the FY2008 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies spending bill (H.R. 3093), after adopting, by unanimous consent, a substitute amendment by Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Richard Shelby (R-AL). The House approved the measure on July 26 (see The Source, 7/27/07).

The measure would allocate $56.029 billion in discretionary spending for FY2008, $3.547 billion above FY2007 and $3.179 billion more than the administration’s request.

An amendment by Sen. Mikulski that would increase funding for the Office on Violence Against Women by $10 million, offset by a transfer from the Department of Justice’s general administration fund, was approved by unanimous consent. Speaking in support of her amendment, Sen. Mikulski said, “October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and we wanted to be sure that, in our legislation, one of the things we were going to be clear about was that there would be enough resources for our local communities to really deal with the growing issue of domestic violence…My amendment simply increases the money, for a total of $400 million. It has an appropriate offset, and it will provide more funding for the training of police officers and prosecutors. It would also continue the funding for battered women shelters and at the same time have a very strong effort in reducing rape, and also prosecution of rape.”

The Senate also approved, by voice vote, an amendment by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) that would increase funding for juvenile justice mentoring programs by $5 million, offset by a transfer from the Department of Justice’s general administration fund.

Report Language

Department of Justice

U.S. Marshals: The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) would be funded at $896.86 million in FY2008, $84.79 million more than FY2007 and $3.015 million less than President Bush’s request. Included in that amount is $7.845 million “for the USMS to place additional personnel in states with the highest levels of unregistered sex offenders, and fugitives wanted for other violent offenses. The committee directs the USMS to work closely with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children [NCMEC] and state and local agencies to focus on the ‘worst of the worst’ sex offenders, especially those involved with crimes against children.”

FBI: The FBI would receive $6.372 billion in FY2008, $383.07 million over FY2007 and $22.3 million more than the budget request. Of that amount, $9.299 million would be allocated to the Crimes Against Children/Innocent Images National Initiative. According to the committee report, “This is an increase of $8.132 million over the budget request to substantially expand the number of agents investigating Internet-related crimes against children by 31 agents and 31 support positions. The committee has provided this increase to address the critical requirements for federal law enforcement in attacking the problem of child sexual exploitation and child victimization.”

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Prevention and Prosecution Programs: VAWA programs would receive $390 million in FY2008, $7.429 million above FY2007 and $19.995 million above the budget request. The following VAWA programs would be funded:

$186.5 million for grants to combat violent crimes against women, including $2 million for the National Institute of Justice for research and evaluation of violence against women and $17 million for transitional housing assistance grants for victims of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault;
$55 million for grants to encourage arrest policies;
$39.5 million for rural domestic violence and child abuse enforcement assistance grants;
$10 million to reduce violent crimes against women on college campuses;
$3.9 million for grants to improve the stalking and domestic violence databases;
$46 million for legal assistance for sexual assault victims;
$4.5 million for enhancing protection for older women from domestic violence and sexual assault;
$14.5 million for safe havens for children;
$7.1 million for education and training to end violence against, and abuse of, women with disabilities;
$5.5 million for training programs to assist parole and probation officers;
$2 million for services for youth victims of domestic violence; and
$2 million for research and tracking of violence against Native American women.According to the committee report, “Recent research has called attention to the dire needs of Indian tribes to address violence against Native women. The lack of a tribal order of protection and sex offender registry prevents Indian tribes from accessing and sharing this life-saving information. While American Indian women are victimized at more than double the rate of any other population of women in the United States, not a single comprehensive study of rates of violence has been conducted. The committee recognizes this and includes funding for two programs to conduct research to help document the extent and nature of violence against Native women and to establish a tribal registry to enhance enforcement of tribal protection orders and monitoring of sex offenders.”
The committee would provide $10 million “to begin a federal program that directly funds the needs of sexual assault victims. As part of the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 [P.L. 109-162], Congress created a new program, the Sexual Assault Services Program to address gaps in services to sexual assault victims and their families. While Congress has worked to ensure that crime controls are in place to address sexual offenders, Congress now wants to ensure that there is a dedicated stream of funding to provide a broad range of services to male, female, and child sexual assault victims and their families through the well-established and well-regarded system of community-based rape crisis centers throughout the United States. These agencies’ ability to serve the needs of victims has been hampered by a significant lack of resources. The Sexual Assault Services Program addresses this lack of resources and meets the distinct need to strengthen the continuum of intervention responses to sexual assault victims, their families, and the community.”

Justice Assistance

In FY2008, the National Institute of Justice would receive $60 million.

The Missing Children’s Program would receive $65 million. The report states, “The issue of child abduction and exploitation today is part of the national conscience due to the numerous child pornography and missing children cases. OJP [Office of Justice Programs] works with law enforcement agencies to target, dismantle, and prosecute predatory child molesters and those who traffic in child pornography. The committee continues to strongly support the Missing and Exploited Children Program run by the BJA [Bureau of Justice Affairs]. The committee recommends $65 million to continue to expand efforts to protect the nation’s children, focusing on the areas of locating missing children, and addressing the growing wave of child sexual exploitation facilitated by the Internet.”

State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance: The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice grants program, which assists state and local law enforcement officials, would receive $660 million in FY2008.

Programs to assist victims of trafficking authorized by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 (P.L. 109164) would receive $15 million in FY2008. The administration proposed consolidating this program into the Edward Byrne Public Safety and Protection Program. The prison rape prevention program administered by the Bureau of Prisons would receive $5 million. The administration proposed consolidating this program into the Edward Byrne Public Safety and Protection Program.

Sex offender management programs would receive $2 million in FY2008.

Programs to expand and support DNA analysis would receive $169 million in FY2008. Under the administration’s request, this program would not have been funded. The monies would be used “to strengthen and improve the current federal and state DNA collection and analysis systems that can be used to accelerate the prosecution of the guilty while simultaneously protecting the innocent from wrongful prosecution.”

The committee recommends “$55 million for a new national initiative to provide grants to state and local governments to locate, arrest, and prosecute sexual predators. The committee recommends the appointment of an assistant U.S. attorney in each judicial district as a coordinator to prepare a comprehensive, district-wide strategy in consultation with social services providers and partners from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The committee directs the COPS [Community Oriented Policing] office to coordinate with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in developing a program that includes detection, apprehension, and prosecution of sex offenders who victimize children. The committee believes it is essential to build specialized units in law enforcement agencies across the country to attack this problem in a concerted, coordinated manner.”

Juvenile justice programs would receive $340 million, $1.639 million above FY2007 and $60 million more than the budget request. Included in that amount is $25 million for enforcing underage drinking laws and $20 million for programs for child abuse victims.

Related Agencies

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC): The EEOC would be funded at $378 million, $49.254 million above FY2007 and $50.252 million more than the budget request.

Legal Services Corporation: The Legal Services Corporation would receive $390 million in FY2008, $41.422 million more than FY2007 and $79.14 million above the administration’s request.