Catherine Cortez Masto Touts Law Enforcement Funding Bill During National Police Week

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During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) spoke about the Invest to Protect Act.

Transcript

00:00Are we in a quorum call?

00:01We are.

00:02I've asked unanimous consent to rescind the quorum call.

00:05Mr. President, this week is National Police Week.

00:09During this week, we rightfully honor the brave men and women

00:13who put their lives on the line every single day to keep our families safe.

00:18And for me, supporting law enforcement is personal.

00:21My husband is a retired law enforcement officer.

00:24I've worked for years as a prosecutor, side-by-side with law enforcement

00:28in the state of Nevada and, quite honestly, here in Washington, D.C.,

00:31I've seen firsthand the sacrifices our officers and their families make

00:36to keep our communities across the country safe.

00:39I also know how thinly stretched our police departments are across the country.

00:45Police departments are understaffed, and our officers are quite often overworked.

00:50Compounding the staffing shortages, it is becoming more and more difficult

00:53for our police departments to recruit and retain qualified officers.

00:59Once those officers are recruited, police departments often struggle

01:03to find the resources to train them.

01:06And when they suffer traumatic experiences in the line of duty,

01:10which also happens quite often, officers routinely don't get the mental health care

01:15that they need.

01:16Police officers risk serious injury every day.

01:19And members of the communities working with them, they see the worst of the worst.

01:26And that's why the mental health and stress of the job takes its toll

01:31amongst even the strongest of our men and women in law enforcement.

01:36I also know that small local police departments are the backbone of public safety

01:41for our rural, suburban, and our tribal communities across the country.

01:45And they often face the greatest hurdles to accessing resources.

01:51There are federal grant programs available for law enforcement agencies,

01:54many of which I have personally fought to support,

01:57but they often require long and confusing applications to secure.

02:02Let's face it, the thousands of police departments in small towns across the country

02:07that have fewer than 10 full-time officers simply do not have the capacity

02:12to keep their communities safe and spend hours filling out burdensome grant paperwork.

02:19So, along with my colleague, during National Police Week,

02:24Senator Grassley from Iowa and I have been working on legislation

02:31to support our law enforcement officers.

02:34It's called the Invest to Protect Act.

02:36And this bipartisan legislation would provide $250 million in funding

02:41through the Community-Oriented Policing Services or the COPS grant program

02:46that specifically is out there to help law enforcement.

02:49This particular program would identify those law enforcement agencies

02:53with under 175 officers.

02:57This funding could be used to support critical training,

02:59mental health and recruitment, and retention measures.

03:02This training and grant funding would be essential in our rural, our tribal,

03:09and our suburban communities.

03:11And that is why this legislation is so important and why it's bipartisan.

03:16This should never be a partisan issue.

03:18This particular piece of legislation that Chuck Grassley and I introduced,

03:22Senator Grassley, passed five years ago, unanimous consent.

03:26Same piece of legislation.

03:27And I am hopeful, working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle,

03:32that we will pass this again, the sooner the better,

03:37so that we can move this out of the Congress, get it to the President's desk for signature,

03:44and show our support for all law enforcement across this nation,

03:49particularly at a time during National Police Week

03:52when we are here to remember the ultimate sacrifice

03:56so many law enforcement officers have made across this country

04:00to keep our communities safe.

04:03And with that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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