Floor Remarks by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Senate President Pro Tempore
“Crime Victims Fund”
Monday, March 2, 2026
...For many years, I’ve addressed and pressed the Justice Department to ensure the Crime Victims Fund has sufficient resources.
That fund supports victims and survivors of crime [in our hometowns] and all across America.
Congress established the fund to be taxpayer neutral. Its balances are filled through criminal fines and penalties that the Justice Department collects and deposits in that Crime Victims Fund.
Last Congress, my oversight revealed that the Biden Justice Department failed to collect and deposit more than a billion dollars in fines and penalties. The Biden-Harris administration was weak on crime and weak on protecting victims.
Since my oversight, the balance of the fund has increased from $1 billion in 2023 – the lowest in over a decade – to its current balance of $3.5 billion.
Last April, this senator, along with Senators Ernst, Crapo and Risch sent a letter to the Justice Department.
In that letter, we urged the Justice Department to avoid the failures of the Biden administration.
In June 2025, the Justice Department updated its policies prioritizing vindicating the rights of victims.
It’s a step in the right direction.
Now, according to the DOJ’s statistics, at the end of fiscal year 2024, the department identified almost $10 billion in outstanding criminal fines and penalties that remain uncollected.
That money could help many victims and survivors of crime.
[On] February 11 of this year, I, along with Senators Collins, Ernst, Crapo and Risch, wrote to the Justice Department about their efforts to collect that money.
Our letter highlighted two main points.
First, collecting the money would hold criminals accountable.
Second, collecting the money would provide a substantial boost to the Crime Victims Fund.
We senators urged the Justice Department in our letter to prioritize collecting these funds and to keep our offices updated on how those efforts to collect that money [go].
I look forward to hearing from the current Department of Justice about the status of these efforts, so we can make sure that victims of crime are benefitted from the bad aspects of criminal activity.
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