The Honorable Russ Feingold

United States Senator
Wisconsin
January 21, 2010

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold in Opposition to Grassley Amendment JEN10046 to S.714, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009

Senate Judiciary Committee

January 21, 2010

I sympathize with the intent of Senator Grassley's amendment to examine grant programs administered by the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and other government agencies to ensure there are no overlapping and duplicate criminal justice grant programs. But I do not think the National Criminal Justice Commission that will be created under S.714 is the appropriate entity to conduct this review. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is better equipped to handle this sort of examination, which spans five large, complex government agencies. This amendment also would have required a significant expenditure of the Commission's time and resources and would have, in my estimate, diverted the Commission's focus from its primary, important mission of conducting a comprehensive review of the entire criminal justice system.