John Rice Carter: “I thank the gentleman for yielding and I thank him for hosting this night. Mr. Speaker, for years, Democrats have been…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding and I thank him for hosting this night. Mr. Speaker, for years, Democrats have been pushing this ``defund the police'' rhetoric that has demonized our law enforcement officers and left them unequipped and abandoned by their government. Now, we are paying the price. In the year 2021, 73 of our bravest police officers lost their lives in defense of their country and their communities. This is a 59 percent increase from 2020 and the most that we have had since 1995. This is utterly unacceptable. The language from top Democrats empowers those that wish to do harm upon others and leaves our law enforcement stranded with nowhere to look for aid. After an entire year of this detrimental rhetoric, at least 16 U.S. cities have set new homicide records in 2021, 346 officers were shot, and we saw 115 percent increase in ambush-style attacks on law enforcement from 2020. Democrats aren't just downplaying the impacts of their soft-on-crime rhetoric, they are completely ignoring it. Shoplifting in California and New York has gotten so bad that it is now mocked on social media and offenders simply walk into a store, grab what they want, and walk out. The First Congressional District of Georgia is unfortunately no exception to this current trend. In the first half of 2021, violent increased 7 percent, property crimes rose 10 percent, and shoplifting has risen 9 percent, all in Savannah alone. Folks, this rhetoric is harmful.…”