Political Quotes

“This program has not been reauthorized by the Congress. So let's go back to that. This is a program that was created to provide support to local communities to be able to hire 1 million additional police officers nationwide, and it was put into place. It has operated well, and ever since this became the law of the land in the Clinton administration, the crime rate nationwide has gone down. We have not reauthorized it, but we have funded it each and every year because it is the right thing to do. On one level, the American public is paying taxes, and safety, to them, is having police officers in their communities and that when they dial 911, there is someone there to respond. At the same time that we have had this back and forth about the COPS program, we have provided well over $6 billion of the American taxpayers' money for police officers and training in Iraq and in places like Afghanistan to provide police officers in communities in countries far away from the streets of the gentleman's city, New York City, or my hometown of Philadelphia. Now, it is true that the Congress has not done its work. We haven't reauthorized the transportation bill or the education bill or the COPS program. There is a whole line of bills that we have not found the ability to come together around, and there are a host of programs in these appropriations bills that are being funded, even though the authorization has lapsed.…”