Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman, and I thank the ranking member and, of course, the manager for the majority. Mr. Chairman, I rise for a very important discussion as a member of the House Judiciary Committee and someone who truly believes that the COPS Program that has been initiated over a long tenure of time has truly brought down the crime statistics across America. Whether you are a rural hamlet or whether or not you happen to be a major city, the COPS Program has been an anchor for security for neighborhoods who cannot afford to pay for their own private police services. This amendment restores the $600 million that is offered to be taken from the present funding, and it restores or would prevent the taking of 1,330 cops off the street, and as well it will provide the safety net that is necessary. If I had had command of the floor earlier, I would have also added to this discussion the elimination of salaries that are eliminating the use of resources for the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act and the resources necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act in the new redistricting plans that will be coming forward. But it is certainly a shame to take in the middle of municipal budget years a sizable amount of dollars which they had been operating with and depended on. There are local communities in which the COPS Program provides one police officer, two police officers, 20 police officers, 30 police officers, and that is the very existence of that community.…”