Anna Eshoo: “I rise to urge Members to support the Schumer-Conyers-Chapman amendment, and to oppose any legislation which would cut…”

“I rise to urge Members to support the Schumer-Conyers-Chapman amendment, and to oppose any legislation which would cut last year's funding for community policing. In my view, Congress should listen to local officials. There is, I think, some confusion here when we talk about 'local.' The bill that became law, that was signed into law last year, came about as a result of the Congress listening to local officials when it came to fighting crime on our streets. I think that there is a blind march going forward to fulfill an ideological agenda dictated from Washington, and I do not think that is what people in our local communities want or need. Mr. Chairman, according to a recent National League of Cities survey, municipal officials, those people closest in our communities, the ones that are elected and serve closest to the crime problem, believe that last year's crime bill is better than the alternative that is being offered. Their executive director, Donald Borut, summed up the survey results by saying 'Municipal officials believe that last year's Crime Bill struck the right balance. There is serious concern about the current efforts at revision under consideration in Congress.'”