Political Quotes

“Our amendment, as has been stated a number of times, is a block grant program to units of local government in which they can decide the best use of their funds. That may in fact be for more police. It may be for what we have come to call prevention programs. It may be for some combination of each. Our bill would leave that to the discretion of local government. Nevertheless, we do in H.R. 728 provide several illustrations at least of what Congress has in mind for local governments to look at. These are not mandatory and they are not restrictive, just because we list several areas, such as hiring of police, is not totally restrictive on how local government should in fact use the funds. But it shows at least what Congress is considering. We then at that point defer to their discretion as local government officials elected essentially by the same constituencies that we have and that sent us here.”