Ritchie Torres: “I thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to partner with my colleague, the gentleman from New…”

“I thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to partner with my colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lawler), on a matter of urgent importance to our Nation. The United States is entering an age of ever-escalating political violence, as evidenced by the violent assault on the United States Capitol on January 6 and as evidenced by not one but two attempted assassinations of a former President. On July 13, the difference between an attempted assassination and a completed assassination was not the skill of the Secret Service. It was luck. If the gunman had been slightly more precise in his shooting, or if the former President had moved ever so slightly to his right, the former President would have been killed. The fact that America stood inches and seconds away from a national crisis is itself a crisis. The security of a major Presidential candidate, whether it be Democratic nominee Vice President Harris or Republican nominee former President Donald Trump, cannot be left to chance. {time} 1800 Hoping for the best and lucking out is not a policy prescription for protecting a President or a Presidential candidate. Both the House and the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans, should be dedicated to a bipartisan, bicameral proposition that both major Presidential candidates of both parties are entitled to the highest level of Secret Service protection, not only for their sake, but for our Nation's.…”