WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) will preside at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee in Southeast Pennsylvania regarding his legislation to restore fairness to the Crime Victims Fund. The hearing will be held on Monday, June 8 at 10 am at the Villanova University School of Law in Radnor Township.

The Crime Victims Fund supports services to victims of crime, through direct compensation to victims and by funding Child Advocacy Centers, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, and other victim service groups. The Crime Victims Fund receives no taxpayer dollars; it is funded by fines and penalties collected from criminals convicted in federal courts.

Federal law requires that money in the Crime Victims Fund must be used only to assist crime victims. Yet, for over a decade, Congress has withheld billions of dollars from victims of child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, and other crimes, and instead used that money as gimmick to hide the true size of the budget deficit.   Senator Toomey has introduced legislation to ensure more money goes to victims by quadrupling funds for victim service groups in Pennsylvania--from $17 million in 2014 to over $70 million in 2016.

WHAT:          

Senate Budget Committee hearing on the Crime Victims Fund

WHEN:          

Monday, June 8, 2015,
10 am - 12pm

WHERE:        

Villanova University School of Law
299 North Spring Mill Road
Villanova, Pa.
Martin G. McGuinn ’67 Ceremonial Courtroom (Room 201)
2nd Floor
Parking is available in the Law School lot as well as an adjacent parking garage.

WHO:      
Chair:  U.S. Senator Pat Toomey

Witnesses:

Jack Whelan
District Attorney, Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Diane Moyer, Esq.
Legal Director, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape

Abbie Newman, R.N., J.D.
Executive Director & CEO, Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

Peg Dierkers, PhD
Executive Director, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence

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