Specter And Leahy Secure $278 M.
In Budget Reconciliation Bill For Key Justice Programs

WASHINGTON (THURSDAY, Nov. 3) – The Senate Thursday night approved a bipartisan amendment by the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee to secure $278 m. in funding for several key Justice Department programs.  The amendment was unanimously added to the budget reconciliation package that passed the Senate Thursday night.  Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, said the action would ensure funding for the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program, as well as the first funding for the newly enacted Justice For All Act of 2004 and the Copyright Royalty Judges Program.

Leahy offered the amendment with Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), tapping surplus revenues in the committee’s portion of the budget reconciliation package.  The Specter-Leahy Amendment will provide funds for the programs for five years.

The Bulletproof Vest Partnership, chartered under earlier legislation authored by Leahy, would receive $60 million under the amendment.  The vest program “saves officers’ lives and offers some security and peace of mind to their families,” said Leahy, a former prosecutor.  He noted that the program has enabled many police and sheriffs’ offices – especially in smaller communities – for the first time to buy protective vests for their officers.

Several programs of the landmark Justice For All Act of 2004 would also be funded, at more than $200 million secured by Leahy and Specter under their amendment.  In addition to supporting a variety of DNA education, training, research and identification programs, more than half these funds will be in the form of Capital Litigation Improvement Grants that will help address one of the greatest problems in the administration of the death penalty.  The grants, authorized under the Leahy-authored Innocence Protection Act section of the Justice For All Act, will help improve the quality of legal representation for indigent defendants in capital cases. 

Specter and Leahy also made crime victims a high priority in their amendment, securing an additional $33.5 million to help the more than 4 million Americans – 17,000 of them, Vermonters – each year who are the victims of crime. 

As a champion of copyright issues, Leahy also worked to secure more than $6 million in the amendment for the Copyright Royalty Judges Programs.  These funds will support the Copyright Royalty Panel, which serves to determine the fair market value of copyrighted material. 

 Amendment Summary

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