Dan Bishop: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, the insidious and false pretext for this legislation endangers and…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, the insidious and false pretext for this legislation endangers and ends lives. The bill rests on a false premise and promotes a false narrative that police are racists and use their power to advance racist ends. This narrative is a false and despicable slander. Police officers do not leave their loved ones and risk their own lives every shift to oppress or discriminate. They do it to serve. They do it without fanfare and for little pay, and they have come to anticipate abuse in place of the respect that they deserve. They do it to save lives. But the reckless ``defund the police'' rhetoric behind this legislation is forcing police to retreat and to leave the vulnerable at the mercy of those who prey upon them. Madam Speaker, you should run from that rhetoric, as you are. Madam Speaker, you called the police ``rotten to the root'' and called for it to be ``dismantled.'' That rhetoric is killing people. Please stop the political games. Stop slandering law enforcement, and stop endangering our communities. Back the blue.”