S 285119th CongressIn Committee

Fairness for Crime Victims Act of 2025

Introduced: Jan 28, 2025

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

Fairness for Crime Victims Act of 2025 would add a new budgetary guardrail to protect the Crime Victims Fund (CVF). It creates a point of order in both the Senate and the House that would block or strike any change in mandatory spending (a CHIMP) that, if enacted, would reduce the amount available to the CVF below its 3-year average deposits. The idea is to prevent budget maneuvers from shrinking CVF disbursements to crime victims. CHIMPs are defined as provisions that would have been treated as direct spending or receipts under pre-2002 budget rules and that reduce budget authority in the current or upcoming year but do not produce a long-run reduction in outlays over the relevant multi-year window. There is a narrow exception if the difference between current-year/next-year CVF levels and the CHIMP is no more than $2 billion. If a point of order is sustained, the offending provision is stricken and cannot be offered again; waivers or appeals require a 3/5 vote. The bill also updates the budgetary table of contents to reflect this new provision.

Key Points

1Purpose and scope: Establishes a formal point of order to curb changes in mandatory programs that would shrink the Crime Victims Fund below its 3-year average, protecting funding for crime victims per the Victims of Crime Act of 1984.
2CHIMP definition: A CHIMP is a provision that would affect direct spending or receipts and would cause a net decrease in budget authority in the current or upcoming year but not a net decrease in outlays across the specified multi-year window.
33-year average and threshold: The relevant metric is the 3-year average annual deposits into the CVF. A CHIMP is blocked unless the difference between CVF levels and the CHIMP would be less than or equal to $2 billion.
4Enforcement and process: In both chambers, the point of order would strike the CHIMP if sustained; waivers or appeals require a 3/5 vote; budget determinations are based on estimates from the relevant budget committees.
5Administrative change: Adds a technical/ conforming amendment to insert a new Part C section (Sec. 441) into the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, clarifying the new point of order.

Impact Areas

Primary group/area affected: Victims who rely on the Crime Victims Fund for services and compensation (including victims of child abuse, sexual assault, and domestic violence) and the programs that distribute CVF resources (e.g., federal crime victim assistance programs).Secondary group/area affected: Federal budget and appropriations processes, particularly how changes to mandatory programs are scored and constrained; agencies and lawmakers negotiating CHIMPs in appropriations bills.Additional impacts: Could constrain lawmakers from using budgetary maneuvers that reduce CVF funding, potentially increasing funding stability for victim services. It may limit legislative flexibility to reallocate or re-prioritize funds within the CVF, and it adds a partisan budgetary hurdle (3/5 vote) to any attempt to bypass or override the new rule. The act reiterates that CVF is funded by fines, penalties, forfeitures, and private donations (not taxpayer dollars) and emphasizes federal responsibility to fund victim services consistent with VOCA.

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