Ranking Member Raskin’s Opening Statement at Subcommittee Hearing on the Instrumental Role of Congress to Support All Victims of Sexual Violence
Washington, D.C. (April 29, 2026)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, delivered opening remarks at the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance hearing examining the federal government’s vital duty to enact survivor-centered protections that support all victims of sexual violence and abuse.
Below are Ranking Member Raskin’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at today’s hearing.
WATCH Ranking Member Raskin’s opening statement.
Ranking Member Jamie Raskin
Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance
“Peace of Mind: Strengthening Victim Protections Under Kayleigh’s Law”
April 29, 2026
Thank you, Chairman Biggs. Sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and other forms of sexual abuse happen in every community and affect all people, regardless of gender or age. According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, an average of 24 people per minute become victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States—that’s more than 12 million women and men every year.
Nationwide, more than one in five women have been raped or subjected to attempted rape, and sixty percent of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim. That number increases for minor victims—93%.
The lives of victims are radically altered after surviving these horrible crimes. Not only do survivors suffer immediate physical and emotional trauma, they also often experience a wide range of chronic physical and mental health problems. They also pay a heavy price in financial terms from related medical and therapeutic treatment, lost work, and legal expenses. The weight of these burdens is even greater for survivors with fewer resources and networks to draw upon. Every survivor deserves to be safe, protected, and supported.
I am heartened to see that, in recent years, states have taken action to improve protections for survivors, often thanks to the advocacy of survivors themselves, people like Kayleigh Kozak, who we’ll hear from today. Because of Ms. Kozak’s dogged advocacy, survivors of sex crimes and other violent crimes may now petition the court in her home state of Arizona for a permanent order of protection against their perpetrators that is separate and apart from any action connected to a criminal case. Ms. Kozak’s advocacy didn’t end in Arizona and, as a result, other states now have similar laws, and more state legislatures are considering similar proposals. My home state of Maryland offers similar protections for victims and survivors.
These state laws go a long way in helping victims and survivors feel safe and move forward with their lives. There is a role for the federal government to play as well.
Unfortunately, the federal government’s responsibilities to aid survivors have been deeply undercut by President Trump. It has eliminated hundreds of programs Congress created and funded to address the needs of victims and survivors. In April 2025, President Trump declared “unending support to every victim of crime.” But that same month, members of our committee recall that his Department of Justice abruptly terminated 373 grants to state and local programs totaling around $500 million, including 59 grants that specifically support survivors of crime.
Take, for instance, the National Organization for Victim Advocacy, or NOVA, the oldest national victim assistance organization, which lost a grant originally valued at $870,000 for its Victim Advocacy Corps. NOVA started the corps as a pilot in 2022 and helped train and accredit students to be victim advocates, providing a lifeline to victims of sexual assault, trafficking, domestic violence, and other crimes in communities often bypassed by traditional victim services. Out of the blue, with no justification offered, no hearings, the Trump Administration abruptly canceled the entire grant.
The President’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal seems to indicate that these grant cuts will continue. The President’s budget proposes significant funding cuts for grant programs under the Office on Violence Against Women, including a $14 million cut to transitional housing grants and a $15 million cut to legal assistance grants. Both housing and legal assistance are crucial for survivors and their children, enabling them to escape violence and start rebuilding their lives. The Administration has again proposed the Office on Violence Against Women to be consolidated with other offices within the DOJ, despite explicit statutory language requiring the office to exist as a standalone entity.
Trump has also taken a wrecking ball to the federal government’s capacity to investigate and prosecute criminals, including those who commit sex crimes. DOJ is hemorrhaging thousands of lawyers and having a hard time recruiting their replacements. Data from ICE reveal that, in 2025, an astounding 14,500 federal law enforcement officers were divertedfrom their regular roles in investigating and prosecuting crimes to assist in immigration enforcement. And an investigation from the New York Times found that from February through April of 2025, Homeland Security investigators worked 33% fewer hours on child exploitation cases compared to previous years.
The result of this singular focus on immigration? According to ProPublica, DOJ quietly closed a stunning 23,000 criminal investigations in the first six months of the Trump Administration alone.
The Trump Administration also seems inclined to ignore certain victims, leave them unprotected and, in some instances, even re-traumatize them. First, the DOJ moved convicted trafficker, groomer, and co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislane Maxwell, from a higher security prison to a minimum-security camp Texas where she’s enjoyed five-star treatment, with catered meals, private gym time, and access to a cute therapy puppy. Then, in a feeble attempt to comply with the law that Congress passed and President Trump signed into law to release all of DOJ’s files on Epstein, the DOJ redacted the names of abusers, enablers, accomplices, and co-conspirators, while shockingly failing to redact the victims’ names, many who had yet to identify themselves publicly.
So we have a lot to talk about today. I want to welcome our witnesses, especially Ms. Kozak and my friend Lisa Jordan, the outstanding leader for the interests of victims and survivors of sexual assault and violence in the great state of Maryland. And it was a great honor for me to get to work with her for ten years when I was a State Senator in Annapolis. I hope we’ll take
I hope that we will all take today’s testimony to heart and do everything in our power to protect and support survivors of sexual violence to keep them all safe.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.