Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I sat through this through a committee hearing, a markup, a Rules Committee, and all day here today, and I have heard a lot about how now is the time for bold action and now is the time for transformational change. But what we don't spend nearly enough time talking about is whether what we are doing and what law we are passing is actually good policy, whether this policy will work in as diverse communities as we have from one end of this great Nation to another. If there was ever a subject that requires nuanced and thoughtful deliberation, police reform is it. Unfortunately, we seem to be incapable of that in this town at this time. That is unfortunate because the American people want reform, and that reform has to start with the basic recognition that 2 million out of 2.3 million people who are incarcerated in this country are incarcerated in State and local prisons and this inherently becomes a community action. {time} 1745 Law enforcement is mostly a local function. And when we are talking about reform, we must always recognize that these laws must work at 2:30 a.m. in dangerous, unpredictable, and often violent situations, whether that officer is patrolling downtown Washington, D.C., or he is on a rural North Dakota road where backup is measured in hours and not minutes. We can move quickly and thoughtfully. We can work toward policies that hold bad officers and derelict departments accountable without making it harder for good cops to do their jobs.…”