Political Quotes

“The 1033 program has been highly controversial because it has led to some pretty substantial pieces of military equipment being transferred to law enforcement--vehicles, in particular--and, to some degree, led to the militarization of the police in the past. Over the years, we have worked to try to get a delicate balance. I agree with the gentleman that the 1033 program is important and incredibly helpful to local law enforcement. There are some on my side who don't agree with that, who would like to see the 1033 program banned. There are others on the other side who would like to see it wide open. We have, over the years, as I said, worked to strike a balance between those two things. Supporting local law enforcement with excess military equipment is what the 1033 program does. It is equipment that is owned by the DOD but that they no longer need and that they can transfer to local law enforcement. Obviously, you don't want them transferring a tank or a missile launcher or a whole bunch of other things, so there are restrictions on that. From time to time, we debate what those restrictions should be. The most crucial part of this amendment that I find problematic is it eliminates the executive's ability to do that by not just changing the executive orders that are currently in existence but prohibiting any future executive orders that would reexamine that question.…”