Political Quotes

“I want to thank Chairman Culberson and Chairman Rogers for working together with Representatives Pascrell, Dent, and Herrera Beutler to develop this amendment. I rise today to offer this critical amendment with the colleagues that I just mentioned. This amendment increases the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program by $100 million and decreases the Census Bureau by an equal amount. Last year, the COPS Hiring Program received bipartisan support and was funded at $180 million in the omnibus. Unfortunately, the underlying legislation completely eliminates the COPS Hiring Program. While we cannot restore COPS Hiring Programs and add them back into the bill due to House rules governing consideration of appropriation measures, we can help ease the burden and mitigate the impact of the program's elimination on local law enforcement by passing this bipartisan amendment. To continue to meet the needs of police departments across the country, this additional $100 million for Byrne JAG should specifically be used for grants to police departments for hiring. Ensuring the safety of our communities and neighborhoods should be one of our first priorities, and we cannot do without a sufficient number of police officers. Mr. Chairman, the police officers and law enforcement agencies across this country are asked to do more and more with less and less, and let me just give you some examples.…”