Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding the Signing of H.R. 777, The Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2019

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 30, 2019

Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding the Signing of H.R. 777, The Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2019 This legislation authorizes the Department of Justice to provide resources to State and local law enforcement to help make sure that criminals are brought to justice. We know that DNA is much more likely than fingerprints to result in the identification of a criminal, yet thousands of rape kits currently sit untested in labs and on police storage shelves across the Nation. The Debbie Smith Act originally became law to provide local and State crime laboratories the resources to end the backlog of untested DNA evidence from unsolved crimes. President Donald J. Trump is proud to have worked with Congress, especially with Congresswoman Wagner and Senators Cornyn and Grassley, to achieve this bipartisan reauthorization.