Bill Pascrell: “I thank the gentleman from Washington for yielding. I want to thank Mr. Dicks for his leadership on this issue. I want…”

“I thank the gentleman from Washington for yielding. I want to thank Mr. Dicks for his leadership on this issue. I want to thank Mr. Rogers for his open-mindedness, as usual, hopefully as we go into this discussion. As cochair of the House Law Enforcement Caucus, I want to call everyone's attention to one of the glaring differences between the bill the Senate passed earlier this week and the one reported by our own Appropriations Committee: Funding for our local police officers. The Senate bill contained $232 million for the COPS office, including $200 million for COPS hiring. This bill completely eliminated funding altogether. We're here today to try to rectify that situation. Mr. Speaker, we know that State and local governments are still slashing their budgets as a result of the recession. In fact, just last week the Department of Justice released a sobering report, ``The Impact of the Economic Downturn on American Police Agencies.'' I think all of our Members should read it. I want to place this as Exhibit A in my presentation today, Mr. Speaker, into the Record. The report revealed that nearly 12,000 law enforcement officers will lose their job this year alone. Another 30,000 positions remain unfilled, and 2011 would produce the first national decline in law enforcement officers in 25 years. Less cops on the beat means more crime on the streets, plain and simple. It is a very specific aspect of this particular problem. It's not going to get better.…”