Political Quotes

“Since President Clinton initiated the COPS program, there has been a tendency for there to be partisan fights around it. The truth of the matter is there is nothing partisan about cops in your community. Every community throughout our country, no matter the voting patterns or predictions of voting patterns, rely on police officers for public safety. The Congress--this Congress, under a Republican President and Republicans in the House and Senate, has spent billions on policing in Iraq. We have just seen President Obama make commitments in Afghanistan for security services and resources well into the next decade. Here in America, we should be at least as willing to support police on our streets. I want to assure the gentlelady from Oakland--her city I visited. I know many of the challenges in cities similarly situated, including my own. I know that the chairman of the subcommittee wants to see more cops on the beat, but we have a difficult allocation. We are hopeful, and I think with some degree of certainty that we will be able to increase the resources put into this area. This is not partisan. This is a program that works. Ever since the COPS program was implemented, every single year the crime rate has gone down; violent crime has gone down in cities where this has been implemented. So I thank the gentlelady for her offering of the amendment and for her willingness to withdraw it. And I thank the chairman for reserving rather than acting on his point of order.…”