Anthony Weiner: “Mr. Chairman, I also want to offer my thanks and gratitude to the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee who…”

“Mr. Chairman, I also want to offer my thanks and gratitude to the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee who, with great grace and dignity, often have to find ways to put 10 pounds' worth of things into a 5-pound bag. This amendment is one that simply argues that in one case, the COPS program, we are allowing the program to effectively die in this bill; and we must not have that. The COPS program has been an enormous success. From coast to coast, big towns, small cities, police departments as few as five members and as many as the New York City Police Department of 40,000 have benefited enormously from the COPS program. Over the course of time, the program has not only shrunk but morphed and become more efficient. Many of my colleagues, including in the city of New York, have suggested, well, we need less money for hiring, but we do need more money for things like radios and equipment and cars. So the program has morphed into a block grant. The problem is, it has also hemorrhaged to an enormous degree. In 1997, there was $1.3 billion allocated by this Congress just for hiring. In last year's bill, we were down to $219 million.”