James Traficant: “I want to talk about some headlines we have not read dealing with security of Members of Congress and the Senate and the…”

“I want to talk about some headlines we have not read dealing with security of Members of Congress and the Senate and the White House, able services provided by our Capitol Police. Mr. Speaker, I want to stand in support of this bill, because for the first time we have an opportunity to treat our Capitol Police like every other Federal law enforcement agency, giving them the right to have a collective bargaining opportunity. The morale in the department is a joke. There has been age discrimination, race discrimination, sex discrimination, and quite frankly, I brought it to the attention, time after time, of the former Democrat leadership, and they did nothing with it. However, let me say this about this bill, it allows for a 2-year period before the Capitol Police is allowed to in fact bargain in good faith like this under the collective bargaining agreement. I plan to write to the Speaker, and I ask Members to join with me, that that be waived and the Capitol Police be treated like every other Federal law enforcement agency in our country. This is an indictment on the Congress of the United States of America. I want to say again, think of the headlines we could have read that we have not read. Good men and women, not patronage positions anymore, but well-trained, who put their lives on the line every day and deal with some real security problems, have been treated as second-class citizens. I am going to support this bill. I am going to write to the Speaker.…”