Amy Klobuchar Calls Out Cory Booker On The Senate Floor—Then He Issues A Blistering Response

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued an emphatic response to Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) for his objection to her piece of legislation.

Transcript

00:00Mr. President, I want to thank the Center for Nevada for her work in trying to bring these

00:07bills to a vote on the floor. I want to thank Senator Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary

00:12Committee. I want to thank Senator Durbin, who is there, the ranking member of the Judiciary

00:17Committee, someone who has, by the way, been a leading voice on immigration for years in this

00:24chamber. And one of the things I don't understand here is that we have committees for a reason,

00:32and we have hearings for a reason. And you can't do one thing on police week and not show up and not

00:39object and let these bills go through and then say another a few weeks later in a big speech on the

00:44floor. So I like to show up at the markups, and I like to make my case. And I will note that Senator

00:52Booker objected to my police reauthorization bill, the COPS funding, the Clinton COPS funding,

00:59long before Donald Trump came into office. So this is not just about this. This is a long dispute

01:07over this type of funding, funding that I think is really important right now. Our country's law

01:16enforcement professionals do some of the hardest and most important work out there. Every day across

01:21America, we ask them to put everything on the line to keep us safe. We ask them to run towards danger

01:28and to guide others to safety. And every day across America, they put on their uniforms,

01:33their bulletproof vests, their badges, and they get to work. We need to have their backs,

01:40and that's what this package of bills does. By the way, bills supported out of the committee from some

01:45of the most liberal senators and some of the most conservative senators in this body. We came

01:51together. There were bills we would have liked to include that we did not. And if the objection

01:57is based on some of this horror show that's going on out of the White House, I agree with that piece

02:04of Senator Booker's points. And I have been equally vociferous in taking on this administration.

02:10But all of these bills came out of the committee unanimously, and I think they deserve that support

02:17on the floor. These bills help fund grants for mental health services for law enforcement.

02:23And by the way, if this issue, which I agree with Senator Booker on, about that all these states

02:28should be treated the same, well, then I suppose then he will be voting against all of this funding

02:35for New Jersey unless this has changed. So we should be watching for that for every single vote

02:40instead of just these bills. These bills that are in front of us that were supported unanimously

02:46out of committee. Grants that help law enforcement combat child sexual exploitation. Grants to help

02:52address a recruitment and retention crisis that is plaguing local law enforcement. Senator Cortez

02:59Masto bill, as she explained, would help support the families of fallen law enforcement officers

03:03who were targeted and attacked because of their service as law enforcement. My bill, which has

03:09been now objected to, so I'm not going to mention it separately or ask for it to be called up

03:15separately. My bill, the Retired Law Enforcement Officers Continuing Service Act, done with Senator

03:21Grassley, would make sure that law enforcement agencies can continue to utilize the skills that talented

03:27law enforcement retirees have built up over their career of public service. There are many retired

03:33law enforcement officers who want an active retirement and are eager and ready to serve

03:38their community. This might sound like small ball, but when we are looking at how we're going to build up

03:43these police agencies when we don't have enough police, when they're out there at these scenes getting

03:49shot at, we've got to be creative in terms of the ideas. And I believe strongly we're going to see

03:56another president in the future. We're going to see, out of these next elections, a check on some of this.

04:02But for now, I want to get these programs started.

04:05This bill would allow law enforcement agencies across the country to keep using their expertise

04:12to review video footage, to solve carjacking cases, or help cyber and financial crime investigations.

04:19This bill will also help train the next generation of law enforcement officers.

04:24These and the other police bills passed. During police week, while those police officers are sitting

04:31there in the hearing room, when no one objected, they are bipartisan, common sense legislation.

04:38They passed the Judiciary Committee unanimously. And I can't help it if someone couldn't change their

04:43schedule to be there. I think that these hearings should mean something, and that people should be

04:50saying the same thing they say on police week, when those people are sitting out there in the

04:55uniform who have lost loved ones, as they say on this Senate floor. If we expect law enforcement to

05:01respond to some of the most difficult crises at a moment's notice, it's on us to set them up for

05:08success. I was there at the National Mall, where it rained the entire night, and not a family wasn't there

05:16when they thought it was going to be a nicer day. And that was this year on the National Mall to honor

05:21those fallen heroes, the law enforcement officers' memorial candlelight vigil. Every single officer

05:30whose name was read that night was a beloved family member and a friend to so many, including three from

05:37my state. There was Officer Jamal Mitchell, who was shot and killed in the line of duty just last June,

05:44and officers Paul Elmstred and Matthew Ruge, who along with firefighter paramedic Adam Finseth,

05:51were killed responding to a domestic violence call in Burnsville, Minnesota. They were called to duty.

05:57They answered the call. They actually got seven kids out of this house and saved their lives. And then

06:03one was gunned down. A paramedic came in to try to save him. He was gunned down. And I will never forget

06:10hearing from Burnsville Police Sergeant Adam Medlica, who was there with the three fallen first responders

06:16when they answered the call. He said of his fallen comrades, we were there for seven children. Nothing could be

06:22more honorable. He is absolutely right. You can't teach that kind of heroism. Our brave law enforcement

06:29professionals deserve to know that the resources they rely on will be there when they need them. And I hope we can work some of this out.

06:37I completely agree with Senator Booker about what this administration is doing.

06:42But you can't just pick out a few bills that came out of a committee and say, I'm going to stop those,

06:50and then allow for other bills that fund other parts of your budget in your state.

06:56Senator from New Jersey. I was just called out by name, and I want to respond.

07:01This is what frustrates me.

07:06I passed numerous pieces of legislation for our police officers. I partnered with Chuck Grassley, the incredible senator from Iowa,

07:14on a bill very similar to the one I support about police officers who fall in the line of duty. In this case, it was COVID.

07:22Police officers who got COVID and died had difficulty proving it was a line of duty death.

07:27We passed that legislation to make sure those families get the benefits.

07:31I've worked in bipartisan ways and within my own party to make sure we get resources to our police officers.

07:39I don't need lectures about the urgency of this. One of my childhood best friends, a police officer in a small town in New Jersey,

07:46after a hard day's work, before he even went home to see his family, died by suicide.

07:55I don't need somebody implying in any way that this is not vital to me and my state, that we have resources for our police officers.

08:04That's why I support this package. That's why I'm a co-sponsor of some of the bills in this package.

08:11But what I am tired of is when the President of the United States of America violates the Constitution,

08:20trashes our norms and traditions, and what does the Democratic Party do?

08:26Comply? Allow him? Beg for scraps? No, I demand justice.

08:36Somebody's implying that this to me is not about resources for my state.

08:44I will fight for Jersey every day, every night, and when it comes to the police officers of my state,

08:51anybody who implies that something is going on other than my allegiance and fealty to the safety, strength,

09:02and protection of my police officers because they protect me and everybody in this body.

09:09This is a call, folks.

09:12The Democratic Party needs a wake-up call.

09:16I see law firms bending a knee to this President, not caring about the larger principles,

09:22that those free speech rights that you can take on any client, why are you bending the knee?

09:27I see universities that should be bastions of free speech bending at the knee to this President.

09:35I see businesses taking late-night talk show hosts off the air because they dare to insult a President.

09:43I see people who want mergers suddenly think that they have to pay tribute to this President.

09:50And what are the very people here elected to defend the Constitution of the United States saying,

09:56oh, well, today, let's look the other way and pass some resources that won't go to Connecticut,

10:01that won't go to Illinois, that won't go to New York, that will go to the states he likes.

10:09That is complicity with an authoritarian leader who is trashing our Constitution.

10:14It's time for Democrats to have a backbone. It's time for us to fight. It's time for us to draw lines.

10:19And when it comes to the safety of my state being denied these grants, that's why I'm standing here.

10:25Don't question my integrity. Don't question my motives. I'm standing for Jersey.

10:30I am standing for my police officers. I'm standing for the Constitution.

10:34And I'm standing for what's right. And dear God, if you want to come at me that way,

10:39you're going to have to take it up with me because there's too much on the line right now in America.

10:44As people's due process rights and freedom of the speech rights

10:49and secret police are running around this country picking people up off the streets

10:53who have a legal right to be here, there's too much going on in this country.

11:00When are we going to stand together for principles that I just heard that were agreed with?

11:06When are we going to stand together? If we don't stand as Democrats, we deserve to lose.

11:13But if we stand united, if we stand strong, if we stand with other people,

11:18if we tell with a chorus of conviction in America what this president is doing is wrong,

11:23if we stand up and speak that way, dear God, we will win.

11:26Like all of those people that are ancestors who joined hands together and said we shall overcome.

11:32No, not on my watch. I'm protecting Jersey today.

11:35I'm protecting our Constitution today.

11:38I'm standing today.

11:43Mr. President.

11:44The Senator from New York.

11:45The Senator from New York.

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