Richard Blumenthal: “My problem is not only with the use of the National Guard as a police force but, even more alarmingly, the potential use…”

“My problem is not only with the use of the National Guard as a police force but, even more alarmingly, the potential use of virtually unchecked power under the Insurrection Act. The measure that I seek unanimous consent on is the Insurrection Act that I have offered to provide limits on the President's power, if the court should tell him that he can't use the National Guard in the way that he has done, and he makes good on his threat to invoke the Insurrection Act. My feeling is that the best way to fight crime--local and State offenses--is to bolster local and State police forces, not to cut them and the resources supporting them, as President Trump has done. He has, in effect, cut the Byrne grants from the Department of Justice. He has stopped training programs.”