{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://fernandez.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=662", "Leger Fern\u00e1ndez Introduces First-Of-Its-Kind Bill to Establish Financial Relief for Epstein Survivors & Survivors of Sexual Violence", "2026-09-15", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "NM", "Teresa Leger Fernandez", "L000273", "fernandez.house.gov", "fernandez", "https://fernandez.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Bill Text | Bill Summary | Press Conference | Photos\n\nWASHINGTON \u2013 Today, Congresswomen Teresa Leger Fern\u00e1ndez (D-NM), alongside Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Deborah Ross (D-NC) introduced the Survivors\u2019 Rights Restitution Act, first-of-its-kind legislation that would create a restitution fund in the judicial branch for survivors of sexual violence whose rights were violated by the federal government, including all survivors of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Congresswoman Leger Fern\u00e1ndez announced this historic proposal alongside survivors and survivors\u2019 rights advocates at a press conference on Capitol Hill.\n\nThe Survivors\u2019 Rights Restitution Act would create a historic investment to support survivors of sexual violence and hold the federal government accountable when it fails to protect survivors\u2019 rights under the Crime Victims\u2019 Rights Act. The estimated lifetime cost of rape is $122,461 per victim. This legislation would address the burden survivors carry, including significant long-term economic and non-economic impacts of sexual violence, from lost income and medical costs to housing instability and enduring trauma.\n\n\u201cSurvivors should never have to pay the price when our government fails to protect them,\u201d said Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fern\u00e1ndez. \u201cFor too long, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell\u2019s horrific abuse were denied justice while powerful people were protected. That failure has real costs: lost wages, medical bills, housing instability, and trauma that can last a lifetime. We cannot undo the harm, but we can make sure survivors are not left to carry the burden alone. The Survivors\u2019 Rights Restitution Act gives survivors that path to restitution.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe financial, physical, and emotional trauma that survivors of sexual violence carry is a lifetime sentence,\u201d said Congresswoman Pressley. \u201cBy no choice of their own, survivors can incur debilitating costs due to medical needs, lost income, housing instability, and mental health support. Far too often, the federal government has been complicit and failed to meet its moral and legal obligation to fight for accountability and relieve this economic burden\u2014our bill would change that by holding our government, abusers, and their co-conspirators to account and helping our survivors get on a pathway to healing. The ignored burden that survivors carry is a stain in our legal system and must be addressed immediately.\u201d\n\n\u201cFar too often, we have seen our government fail survivors of sexual violence who have risked everything to come forward,\u201d said Congresswoman Deborah Ross. \u201cTrauma is often just one part of the burden survivors carry, and it is often compounded by lost income, housing insecurity, and economic hardship. We have seen this play out in the administration\u2019s treatment of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell\u2019s abuse, who have been dismissed and demonized. Now more than ever, we must ensure all survivors receive the justice they deserve. I am proud to introduce this bill to establish a first-of-its-kind economic relief fund for survivors of sexual violence.\u201d\n\nAccording to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are tens of thousands of rape and sexual assault victimizations annually, amounting to 23 violent victimizations for every 1,000 people in 2024. Despite its prevalence, approximately two out of three sexual assaults go unreported.\n\nWhen a survivor takes action to report the crime, the Crime Victims\u2019 Rights Act grants them specific protections, including the right to timely and accurate notice of any release of the accused. However, the Jeffrey Epstein sweetheart deal is proof that these rights are not always enforced. Furthermore, there is no relief for survivors when their victims\u2019 rights are violated.\n\nTo support survivors of sexual violence and empower survivors who choose to come forward, the Survivors\u2019 Rights Restitution Act would:\n\nEstablish the Survivors\u2019 Rights Restitution Program to provide compensation to eligible victims for harm and losses.\n\nCreate an independent Office of Special Adjudicators for Survivors Restitution within the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to review petitions and determine awards through a streamlined, non-adversarial, and trauma-informed process.\n\nEstablish the Survivors Rights Restitution Fund within the Department of the Treasury to finance awards through federal forfeiture proceeds tied to trafficking and sexual exploitation offenses, voluntary contributions, and authorized appropriations.\n\nThe bill is cosponsored by: Reps. Yassamin Ansari, Becca Balint, Joyce Beatty, Wesley Bell, Brendan Boyle, Salud Carbajal, Andr\u00e9 Carson, Yvette Clarke, Lou Correa, Jim Costa, Madeleine Dean, Maxine Dexter, Debbie Dingell, Maxwell Frost, Robert Garcia, Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garcia, Sylvia Garcia, Adelita Grijalva, Hank Johnson, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Summer Lee, Stephen Lynch, Sarah McBride, Jennifer McClellan, LaMonica McIver, Christian Menefee, Kweisi Mfume, Gwen Moore, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Chellie Pingree, Mike Quigley, Delia Ramirez, Emily Randall, Andrea Salinas, Lateefah Simon, Melanie Stansbury, Shri Thanedar, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, James Walkinshaw, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Frederica Wilson.\n\nThis bill is endorsed by: Democratic Women\u2019s Caucus; World Without Exploitation; me too. International; Women\u2019s HQ; UltraViolet Action; National Alliance to End Sexual Violence; Safe Exit Initiative; RIA, Inc.; National Alliance to End Sexual Violence; Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA); My Life My Choice; National Network to End Domestic Violence; National Women's Law Center Action Fund; Boston Area Rape Crisis Center; Survivor Justice Network; Equal Rights Advocates; Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA); Victim Rights Law Center; Them Apples Music; Justice for Migrant Women; Esperanza United; National Women's Political Caucus; Feminist Majority; Legal Momentum, the Women's Legal Defense & Education Fund; South Asian SOAR.\n\n\u201cSex trafficking survivors are often asked to take enormous risks to report their abuse and cooperate with the justice system, only to find that the same institutions demanding their trust can fail to protect their rights,\u201d said Becca Zipkin, Vice President of Policy and Programs, World Without Exploitation. \u201cSurvivors of Jeffrey Epstein experienced that failure in one of the most public cases imaginable, but they are far from alone. At World Without Exploitation, we work alongside survivors who know that justice must include changing the systems that allow exploitation to flourish and holding institutions accountable when they fail the people they are supposed to protect. The Survivors\u2019 Rights Restitution Act is an important step toward that goal by giving survivors a meaningful path to redress when the federal government violates their rights. It also recognizes something survivors have long told us \u2014 economic justice is survivor justice.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs a survivor who has worked alongside thousands of survivors I\u2019m clear that the full story of what it actually takes to survive is not often told. Alongside the mental, physical and emotional toll of the violence that we endured is the financial burden of untangling the web that the trauma creates to try and find our way back to ourselves - there is an actual cost to that work and it\u2019s rare that we have support footing that bill. This country and our government has to ask itself what does it owe survivors? Rep. Pressley is doing her part to begin answering that question,\u201d said Tarana Burke, Co-Founder and Chief Vision Officer, Me Too\n\n\u201cSurvivors have been paying the price for their assault for far too long,\u201d said Liz Speakman, Executive Director, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. \u201cWe know that money is not what heals trauma but it goes a long way to providing the space, time and resources to make the path a little easier.\u201d\n\n\u201cSurvivors should not have to spend decades paying for crimes committed against us. When institutions fail us, that failure becomes generational trauma. We deserve privacy, dignity, and restitution\u2014not someday, but now. Congresswoman Pressley\u2019s bill gives survivors a path forward,\u201d said Dani Bensky, survivor and advocate.\n\n\"As a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, I am heartened by the introduction of the Survivors\u2019 Rights Restitution Act of 2026. This vital legislation not only acknowledges our trauma but also provides a pathway to justice with meaningful compensation. It's time for Congress to act swiftly, reinforcing that survivors deserve to be heard, believed, and supported in our healing journey,\u201d said Lara Blume McGee, Survivor and CEO of Team Up World.", 1, "2026-09-16T09:43:13Z", "2026-09-16T09:44:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://fernandez.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=662"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6490560956299305, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}