Joe Crowley: “it is with no great joy that I rise to offer this amendment. My amendment seeks to transfer $50,000 from the Department…”

“it is with no great joy that I rise to offer this amendment. My amendment seeks to transfer $50,000 from the Department leadership account funds at the Office of the Attorney General and shift those funds to the Public Safety Officers Benefits Program under the Office of Justice Program. These funds should be used by the Office of Justice Programs to provide the resources to issue the Public Safety Officer's Medal of Valor posthumously to the 414 public safety officers who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. After those awful events of September 11, our whole Nation unified together as one people. We looked with long-deserved respect at our police and fire fighters and emergency medical technicians, as well as court officers, for their heroism and their bravery. Remember, Mr. Chairman, these are the people who were running into the buildings when everyone else was attempting to escape those buildings. As a posthumous honor for these fallen heroes, I worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass a resolution 2 1/2 years ago, expressing the sense of Congress that the Public Safety Officers Medal of Valor be presented to the public safety officers who had perished for outstanding valor above and beyond the call of duty during the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11. That resolution unanimously passed by a vote of 409 to 0.”