On the recordMay 29, 2014
I offer this amendment. I represent Flint, Michigan, and Saginaw, Michigan, two cities that have dealt with significant violence. There are cities across the country that are plagued with extreme violence and are unable themselves, these communities, to deal with the challenges, simply having the resources to deal with the sorts of crime that they are seeing every day. On occasion, the ATF has been able to provide support to these communities through their Violent Crime Reduction Partnership program, so-called ``surge.'' What my amendment would do would be to provide an additional $15 million to the ATF's budget to conduct additional surge operations in America's most violent communities. As I said, there is a high correlation between communities experiencing serious violence, high rates of murder and other violent crime, and cities that are experiencing enormous problems, significant financial stress, such that they simply don't have the resources to deal with the tidal wave of violence and in fact, in many cases, see the loss of police and prosecutorial capacity. This amendment would address that by allowing ATF to utilize the additional funding to support those communities, those most violent communities. It makes a difference. It pays off. In 2012, when a surge was executed in my hometown of Flint, the murder rate, the homicide rate, was cut in half for that period.…
