Political Quotes

“The previous speaker referred to some remarks I made, and they are accurate. What I said was that substantial resources should be taken from the police and given to mental health services, and that was done. About a billion dollars was taken from the police department in New York City by the city council and the mayor and given to mental health services. That made sense. Why? Because when someone is acting out on the subway, when someone is threatening on the subway, what you usually need is a mental health professional there, not a policeman who doesn't know how to handle it. Since a lot of resources were devoted to mental health, the situation in the subways generally and on the streets has gotten much better. It has worked. I can't speak for anybody else, but I can say that when the gentleman says we should honor local police, he is also saying we should not honor Federal police. This resolution does not honor Federal police. It does not honor the ATF, the FBI, or thousands of Federal law enforcement officers, the law enforcement officers who protected us on January 6 from a far-right attack. It talks about leftist violence, but it refuses to talk about rightwing violence. It is not a balanced or fair resolution. It seeks to give a distorted picture of what is going on in this country, and that is why we cannot support it. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).”