Political Quotes

“come tomorrow, we will be celebrating the 16th annual National Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the President of the United States is going to be here on the west front. I am sure, regardless of party, many of us are going to be out there to honor slain police officers. It is the culmination of National Police Week, and I come to the floor this afternoon to encourage my colleagues to do something more than mourn slain police officers. I have sponsored the Officer Brian Gibson Tax-Free Pension Equity Act of 1997. This is a bill that has almost no fiscal consequences, but it would allow the families of officers killed in the line of duty to receive survivor benefits tax-free. We already allow officers who retire on disability to receive their benefits tax-free. Surely we would want to this year erase the disparate treatment between officers who still live, but are disabled, and survivors of officers who have been killed in the line of duty. Is this small deed merely honorific, or is it necessary? I got the idea, Mr. Speaker, when Officer Brian Gibson was killed a few months ago. I learned that this officer was only 28 years old and had left infants behind. Then, right after that, two more officers were killed. Each had young children, ages 5, 3 months, 3 years. Each of them had been on the police force only a few years; 3 years, 4 years.”