Political Quotes

“I again ask why the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000 is being held up. Senator Campbell and I, and others, both Republicans and Democrats, introduced this bulletproof vest bill to help our police officers. We introduced it last April. It was stuck in the Judiciary Committee for a time despite my requests that it be brought forth. It finally was allowed on the agenda and was passed out of there unanimously in June. I find it hard to think that anybody who would be opposed to using some of our Federal crime-fighting money for bulletproof vests for our police officers. In fact, most Senators with whom I have talked, Republican and Democrat, tell me they are very much in favor of it. They saw how this worked in its first 2 years of operation. The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program under the original Campbell-Leahy bill funded more than 180,000 new bulletproof vests for police officers across the Nation. We have a bill, though, that has been stalled, unfortunately, by an anonymous hold on the Republican side. This is a bipartisan bill that is being held up in a partisan fashion. I am continually being asked by police officers who know how well the original Campbell-Leahy bill worked on bulletproof vests why we cannot pass this continuation of it. It is strongly supported by police officers all over the country. The President has made it very clear he would sign such a bill into law, as he did the last one.”