▶ 0:18:29Chair Grassley: We have three nominations and bills on the agenda. The listed nominations today, terrance cole, to be administrator of, and serralta to be director of the U.S. marshals service, to be considered for the first time. Committee rules will be voted on next week.
▶ 0:18:58Chair Grassley: The nomination of jason quiñones as be U.S. attorney for the southern district of florida is ready for a vote today, and I look forward to supporting his nomination. The eight bills on the committee are part of the senate's traditional judiciary committee's long-standing bipartisan commitment for law enforcement, that we do this time of the year.
▶ 0:19:29Chair Grassley: It is a true testament to the bipartisan nature of law. Today's markup has four republican-led bills and four democrat-led bills.
▶ 0:19:44Chair Grassley: So I thanked ranking member durbin and his staff for working with us on this side of the aisle to put together this agenda, and I would like to thank all members of the committee for their continued support of this long-standing tradition. Law enforcement across the country has put their lives on the line every day.
▶ 0:20:06Chair Grassley: This year, I wrote a resolution with senator durbin, honoring 234 officers who made the ultimate sacrifice, and are being recognized as line of duty deaths, which includes two of my faneuil iowas, trooper brown and senior police officer tran.
▶ 0:20:33Chair Grassley: The devotion of these officers means admiration, and we will be deeply indebted to them. And please my resolution with senator durbin passed the senate with 80 cosponsors, demonstrating the overwhelming support of the law support of the la united states senate for law enforcement.
▶ 0:20:56Chair Grassley: The bills on today's agenda are a good example of extensive problems facing our law enforcement community. They deal with recruitment and retention issues, protecting law enforcement from the dangers of fentanyl, providing law enforcement with the equipment they need to serve our communities, protecting families of first responders, and providing resources for mental health of law enforcement.
▶ 0:21:28Chair Grassley: Like my colleagues, when I see law enforcement, I take the chance to tell them, thank you for keeping the peace. That's why I'm pleased that we were able to have so many bills on the agenda. Each of the bills will help law enforcement, first responders throughout our nation.
▶ 0:21:55Chair Grassley: Once these bills are out of committee, I look forward to quickly moving them from the senate floor. I've heard some criticism from democrats about the trump administration's re-allocation of resources within the justice department, but there's a great deal of positive news from this administration that we should recognize, effective law enforcement and responsible spending are not incompatible.
▶ 0:22:24Chair Grassley: The administration is focused on returning federal law-enforcement to our coordination of combating violent crime, and they will deliver results. Fbi director patel was sworn in only a few months ago, but under his leadership, the agency has already brought into custody three of the top 10 most wanted fugitives, including a key leader of ms-13, who has been
▶ 0:22:56Chair Grassley: Extradited from mexico, facing justice in this country. In early march, the fbi secured the arrest of one of the orchestras of the deadly isis-k attack which killed 13 young servicemen during the withdrawal from afghanistan.
▶ 0:23:16Chair Grassley: More recently, in may, 113 children were rescued, and 200 five predators were arrested in the fbi's operation restore justice, protecting our nation's most vulnerable.
▶ 0:23:34Chair Grassley: Even without a permit administrator, the dea has delivered similar results as part of operation take back america, in partnership with other federal and state law enforcement. The dea accomplished the procedure of addressing fentanyl .
▶ 0:24:01Chair Grassley: We could all go on, but the president's focus targets many of the worst of the worst, targeting criminals and terrorists who threaten american safety in way of life, and I apply these early accomplishments and look forward to more. Part of the administration's efforts to refocus on violent crime and build an evaluation in appropriate spending from the previous administration.
▶ 0:24:30Chair Grassley: Here are some of the examples of programs that we are spending taxpayer dollars on. We were spending over $600,000 on a podcast series, blog, and academic conference presentation. It seems to me we ought to use these resources to focus on crime instead of just talking about chronic.
▶ 0:24:55Chair Grassley: Some grants seem to be aimed at associations to mediate conflicts. That said, in april, I wrote the for clarity about its plan to grant funds. I would like to enter their response into the record could without opposition, I will do that.
▶ 0:25:22Chair Grassley: The justice department told me 92% of the terminations affect grants awarded to nongovernmental agencies. The justice department plans to reallocate funds from terminated grants to new grants. To those worried about grant cuts, I will say congress has the ability to authorize spending on several bills on today's agenda to do just that. I look forward to advancing these bills.
▶ 0:25:53Chair Grassley: Senator durbin.
▶ 0:25:59Sen. Durbin: Thanks, senator grassley. We are 120 days into this administration. Resisting this tomatoes the efforts of oversight. Today to date, I sent 18 requests for oversight, received two responses. One involved a simple records. It took the department 76 days to respond. The justice department's response to chairman grassley.
▶ 0:26:31Sen. Durbin: You receive responses to almost half of your levels. -- letters. The department has given thousands of documents you requested. During my four years of chair of the committee, I press the button and administration to respond to oversight request for democrat and republican the like.
▶ 0:26:48Sen. Durbin: In june 2021, only five months into the biden administration, I convened the bipartisan meeting with the judiciary committee's members, including merrick garland, to respond to committees request. I restore the committee's long-standing commissions oversight hearing. At this point in the biden administration, we had convened oversight hearings with the fbi director and the board of prisons.
▶ 0:27:20Sen. Durbin: We had an oversight hearing with the attorney general a few months later. Why does this matter? Let me take a moment to discuss a blanket request to attorney general bondi. As president trump confirmed a few days ago, his administration is in talks with qatar to receive a private jet as a gift from the royal.
▶ 0:27:42Sen. Durbin: This aircraft would be retrofitted to act as air force one for the remainder of 12's term in office, and then ownership would return to trump personally and the trunk presidential library.
▶ 0:27:58Sen. Durbin: The president said it would be "stupid" to say no to the airplane, but with the president failed to say is the cost is more than the value of the airplane to outfit it for air force one. Equally important, the constitution, which we've all sworn to uphold and defend, it is clear on the issue of gifts from foreign sources.
▶ 0:28:26Sen. Durbin: The constitution gives congress the power to control whether any officer of the united states, including the president, can accept a gift from "any king, prince, or foreign state." this gift clearly defies the constitution.
▶ 0:28:49Sen. Durbin: It attorney general bondi reportedly produced a legal memorandum, reporting it would be "legally permissible" for the president to accept this airplane from a foreign power. This committee fails to see her rationale that reportedly permits this unprecedented gift. There are also great concerns with attorney general bondi participating in any matter involving the state of congress.
▶ 0:29:22Sen. Durbin: A registered foreign agent of that government who lobbied prior to her confirmation as attorney general. There are obvious questions to be asked and answered. During the confirmation process, attorney general bondi failed to list a conflict of interest. When I asked her about it, she refused to commit to recusing herself for matters involving the foreign power.
▶ 0:29:47Sen. Durbin: She claimed she would "consult with career officials" within the justice department, and make the appropriate decision. However, trump political appointees has conveniently removed the career ethics position and put the duties in the hands of inexperienced political appointees beholden to the attorney general.
▶ 0:30:15Sen. Durbin: In light of these significant ethical concerns, I've also requested that attorney general bondi provided information related to any ethical conflict on her involvement in the trump administration and consideration of this gift. Let's not forget that president trump accepted this gift mere weeks after his family landed a deal in qatar.
▶ 0:30:42Sen. Durbin: For years, president biden's son was accused of being engage in wrongdoing, yet the president trump is now receiving this gift. Mr. chairman, first let's convene as soon as possible, for the oversight request, provided for the attorney general.
▶ 0:31:14Sen. Durbin: Second, it's imperative that we hear from her as well. I hope that we can convene the oversight hearing as quickly as possible. I yield.
▶ 0:31:28Chair Grassley: You mean beyond a regular oversight hearing, for the fbi director, or part of that?
▶ 0:31:35Sen. Durbin: You remember when biden took office? I think you let it, the bipartisan request, a letter, if you did not like the way you were treated, I did not like the way you were treated, so we both sent a letter, and I personally talked to him on a bipartisan basis, about our relationship with the department of justice. I think we ought to do that again.
▶ 0:32:00Chair Grassley: I will respond to what you said about oversight later. First, I want to make it very clear that I think every member of congress, when we sent letters, back to that outcome I asked him way back in 2017 when the first trump administration said they were only wanting to
▶ 0:32:31Chair Grassley: Answer letters from chairman of committees, which means that about 80% of the members of the congress would never get answers. I did that not only by writing and giving the rebirth by that administration.
▶ 0:32:48Chair Grassley: Maybe that reverse did not do much good, but we got it reversed them and I testified before the house oversight committee or maybe the judiciary committee on the very same subject, that not only chairman but breaking members and all 435 members of congress are entitled to answers to their letters.
▶ 0:33:10Chair Grassley: During the 117 congress, when I was ranking member of this committee, I raised issue with the biden justice department, non-responsive to my oversight letters. I repeatedly asked biden's justice and fbi for in person meetings to get answers, but that never happened. The committee did convene one brief phone call with community members and the attorney general. I had some assistance there.
▶ 0:33:43Chair Grassley: I don't think that changed a thing. A further effort obviously involving biden's just department's to farming -- justice department stiff arming us on this committee. Take, for example, my outstanding oversight letters. Not once did I get a full response from the biden justice department. So let's not pretend for a minute that he has administration was a benchmark for responsiveness.
▶ 0:34:20Chair Grassley: The john durham investigation, as you will all recall, that investigation further impacts the already discredited hurricane investigation. The biden justice department gave access to that, the Mr. chairman, ranking member, and one staffer for each. Everyone else was boxed out.
▶ 0:34:42Chair Grassley: When I became chairman, I've renegotiated those terms to include all members of this committee, republican or democrat, and a staffer for each, and I made sure that the justice department would bring that to the senate, and I demanded that members and staff be allowed to take note. No phone allowed by congress, weren't allowed last congress, the justice department, compelled.
▶ 0:35:12Chair Grassley: They've already begun to change for better with this administration and this congress. Whatever you want me to do to help you get answers to your questions, I will be glad to deal with it. It is my responsibility, as you contacted biden for us.
▶ 0:35:29Sen. Durbin: Mr. chairman, I would do it again, and I would do it for any member of the committee to get an answer. And what we are facing right now with this gift, the plane, $400 million or whatever it is, it is entirely appropriate for us to ask the attorney general for a copy of the memorandum where she said it was legally permissible for this administration to take possession of that airplane.
▶ 0:35:55Sen. Durbin: The fact that she was a foreign agent of this government, qatar, that she lobbied for it as well, raises some ethical issues that we need to address directly. It is timely, and we should do it. To ignore it is to walk away from our own responsibilities.
▶ 0:36:13Chair Grassley: I speak about that in my issue, not directly with what you just said. I don't know why that document could not be made available, but I think I would need more reason before I could say with certainty that you would like to have me fail.
▶ 0:36:36Sen. Tillis: Mr. chair, down here, thom tillis.
▶ 0:36:44Chair Grassley: Colleagues continue to bring us -- regarding trump. We did so in the first term and we will do so again with the airplane, yet my democratic colleagues never cared about the oversight during the march 2016. At that time, I wrote the obama justice department, based on secretary clinton's 2009 to 2013 financial sources.
▶ 0:37:17Chair Grassley: Both said her husband participated in 62 events in foreign states, some speaking events for foreign governments, some financially supported by foreign governments. Bill clinton received hundreds of thousands of dollars for appearances sponsored by middle eastern governments. Bill clinton also received $200,000 for a speech connected to the chinese government.
▶ 0:37:45Chair Grassley: In another example, bill clinton received almost 200,000 from foreign cities. In at least one example, he received $500,000 in moscow. One was funded by the investment bank whose senior members included intelligence personnel. I wrote about that in 2017.
▶ 0:38:12Chair Grassley: However, bill clinton was married and she was secretary of state when all that money was made, thus it was a joint income. As my investigations were shown, hillary clinton directly receives money from foreign governments while secretary of state. Moreover, bill clinton's speaking fees appear to have increased from $150,000 to sometimes 500,000 dollars or even 700 $50,000, when hillary became secretary of state.
▶ 0:38:40Chair Grassley: I don't recall hearing my colleagues on the other side of the aisle showing any interest in these apparent violations for the emoluments. When democrats called against president trump and his first term, they argued before the court the sworn in emoluments clause "regulates the private conduct of federal officials." they claimed he was violating the clause through his private
▶ 0:39:11Chair Grassley: Businesses, and so congress could not use the "power of the purse" to address it. Well, here, that is not the case. Now they are arguing trump is violating the emoluments clause for what is a gift to the united states.
▶ 0:39:34Chair Grassley: In any event, when the emoluments clause violation occurs, the remedy is to discharge the emoluments of the federal government. Here's an example was drunk, and unlike clinton, the federal government would be a recipient of the airplane, and the plane reportedly won't be used by trump outside of government, and rather it may be parked in a presidential library, which is ultimately operated by national our spirit senator coons, you --
▶ 0:40:04Chair Grassley: National archives. Senator coons, you wanted the floor.
▶ 0:40:10Sen. Coons: Thank you, and thank you for the longtime tradition of bipartisan police. We had a very well attended event here yesterday about the escalations of the eight commonsense bills that were advanced today to support low enforcement -- law enforcement on the floor. I think it is important that we continue to advance bipartisan bills that strengthen law enforcement.
▶ 0:40:37Sen. Coons: I will say, as someone who was, for much of a decade, responsible for the second largest law enforcement entity in the united states, I was really struck that doj recently terminated hundreds of grants, totaling nearly $1 billion. Yes, you are right, many of them went to nonprofits, but through those nonprofits, they funded things like state and local antiterrorism training.
▶ 0:41:01Sen. Coons: The police officer mental health, to prevent potential school shootings, funding for prosecutors to investigate child abuse. In my view, this particular exercise has a doge staffer overreaching without consultation with the relevant career staff in these cuts. Disrespect to both law enforcement and, frankly, this committee.
▶ 0:41:25Sen. Coons: We want to work together to reform and reshape ojt and the grant programs that make such a critical difference in the connection between federal, state, and local law enforcement, we should use it in a way that follows the law, that is disciplined and organized, not the haphazard cuts that have recently happened. Thank you for the opportunity to be here.
▶ 0:41:59Chair Grassley: Senator whitehouse.
▶ 0:42:00Sen. Whitehouse: Thank you, Mr. chair. We had a termination of a whole bevy of grants that have come out of the department of justice, and I just want to flag some of the areas in which grants were terminated, in areas where this committee has done really good work. Grants were terminated for project safe neighborhood. Over and over, this committee has a plotted project safe neighborhood. It has been 25 years now, for the department of justice. When I was U.S.
▶ 0:42:30Sen. Whitehouse: Attorney, it was one of the first states to go start. It is now called the project safe neighborhood program. If you are a violent gangster and you use a gun in a crime, you are going federal. That was replicated across the country. I think project safe neighborhoods is a very good program with long-standing bipartisan support. I don't know why it was cut. You know, Mr.
▶ 0:42:56Sen. Whitehouse: Chairman, the reauthorization of the juvenile justice delinquency prevention act, funding for and compliance with that. There are also cuts, which I think we all agree, the jwpa, we have no problem passing the reauthorization, the biggest piece of opioid legislation we've ever passed. I worked on that with republican cosponsors to get that past. It's been repeatedly funded.
▶ 0:43:25Sen. Whitehouse: I just don't know why something that is as bipartisan as funding for a tailor or designated program would be cut. The second chance act was also cut, which helped with people coming out of prison and going into reentry at the state level.
▶ 0:43:47Sen. Whitehouse: This worked so well in rhode island and in other states that senator cornyn and I did a federal version of it, which everybody supported it, for federal prisons as well. It has been very, very successful, most useful helping people coming out with addiction issues, to give medication-assisted treatment. Started before they are discharged. That has saved lives. It has reduced reoffending.
▶ 0:44:19Sen. Whitehouse: So over and over again, whether it is project safe neighborhoods, jjpa, cara, or second chance, this committee has strongly and continually supported yet they are cut. I would like to get more information on that from the department.
▶ 0:44:40Sen. Whitehouse: And then going forward, grants like the ones we will be discussing today are going to be subjected to a screening that obliges the department to look at whether they are essential cities in the jurisdiction. I don't know what that actually means. It's not a legal term of ours. We have a federal court and a circuit court of appeals that have determined you need a warrant for law enforcement innovation for them.
▶ 0:45:11Sen. Whitehouse: This is law enforcement. We cannot go to the court and say I'm going to have that court order. And they should not be punished for not getting done, because there are a billion court orders. This is law enforcement, for pete's sake. School closing covert requirement, I don't know what that has to do with anything come of the school committee, makes it very hard to hold a police chief accountable for staff the school committee does.
▶ 0:45:40Sen. Whitehouse: Concerns about gender ideology, their phrase, that would render an organization ineligible for a grant. I don't know what that means. Does that mean we are recording female officers? A statement of ideology will be punished? Who knows? We need clarity on that. No mentions of d.e.I. Or d.e.j.
▶ 0:46:11Sen. Whitehouse: I happens to be working when a white officer shot and killed a black police officer out of uniform, not knowing he was a fellow officer. It was a blue on blue shooting. It inflamed, for good reason, the black community when it happened. The man who was killed, the father of a senior officer in the police department, and the community relations service came in to help deal with the community issues that had arisen and lower the temperature. They were very effective.
▶ 0:46:44Sen. Whitehouse: They supported the doj community relations service always, add bringing in crs, di, or, you know, and environmental justice, we need to know. If you had a vandalized monument, it looks like that disqualifies you. There are a great number of jurisdictions that have vandalized monuments. I don't know that that is a legitimate test for whether someone should get a grant.
▶ 0:47:16Sen. Whitehouse: Finally, full compliance with all executive orders needs to be required to him even when those executive orders have been thrown out as court or unconstitutional. Again, these are law enforcement agencies. You cannot ask them to comply with an order that their current court determines to be unconstitutional, and they should not be punished in order to be able to get project safe neighborhoods, maybe second chance act grants, because of that.
▶ 0:47:46Sen. Whitehouse: My point here is this is a huge net and model right now, and it would be very helpful to get the subcommittee to figure out some clarity about what doj really means and what people applying for the grants we are going to approve today will need to disclose and how they need to prepare for that, to make sure that these grant programs are administered fairly.
▶ 0:48:09Chair Grassley: [indiscernible] and I have not followed up on what the justice department has told me, so maybe we will find out it is not as directed toward law enforcement as I said in my opening statement.
▶ 0:48:31Chair Grassley: As you remember, I said 93% of grants that were eliminated by doj or awarded to nongovernmental entities, and then I said what the department said in response to my level, -- let her reallocate the savings to "directly support law enforcement operations." I do have a letter that I entered into the record.
▶ 0:49:03Chair Grassley: Senator klobuchar.
▶ 0:49:04Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you, chairman, and I'm excited to get these bills done for police week. This week, I joined law enforcement leaders and families of fallen officers at the national law enforcement officers memorial candlelight vigil on tuesday night.
▶ 0:49:23Sen. Klobuchar: It was remarkable, as it always is, but it was pouring rain for three hours, yet all of these families sat out there with their umbrellas, out of respect for those they had lost. All of these officers were there, including a number of families and fellow officers from burnsville, minnesota, where we lost two officers and a paramedic.
▶ 0:49:57Sen. Klobuchar: Officers paul elmstrand, matthew ruge, and paramedic adam finseth. They save kids. The paramedic was giving life-saving treatment when he was shot and he died. Nothing could be more honorable.
▶ 0:50:24Sen. Klobuchar: And I don't think you can teach that kind of heroism, and I hope we remember why we are here today. I'm pleased we are advancing a number of these bills, the honoring our fallen heroes at. A number of committee members are cosponsors of this bill. Every day, our first responders put their lives on the line to protect all of us.
▶ 0:50:50Sen. Klobuchar: As senator padilla knows, more than 16,000 firefighters and first responders battled the wildfires across los angeles. Just this week in northern minnesota, we have extensive fires, and we know there's a high incidence of cancers among firefighters, officers, first responders, and that is why senator cramer and I introduced our bipartisan legislation to ensure firefighters and first responders who become disabled as a result of service related cancers get the support that
▶ 0:51:21Sen. Klobuchar: They earned. This bill was inspired by a st. Paul firefighter, mike, who was exposed to toxic substances and guided a very young age. Second, the bill that you and I have together, the grassley-co.
▶ 0:51:53Sen. Klobuchar: Which are bill on protecting first responders from secondary exposure, I urged our colleagues to support that bill. Finally, the retired law enforcement officers continuing service act. This bill would establish a grant program to make sure law enforcement agencies can continue to utilize the skills that talented law enforcement retirees have built up over a career of public service.
▶ 0:52:21Sen. Klobuchar: And I thank senator grassley for your support of that bill, and I urged our colleagues to join us. There was one other I quickly wanted to mention, an officer killed in the line of duty in june in minnesota, another ambush, and I got to know jamaal mitchell's widow, and we were standing in the rain, honoring the sacrifice that these families make every single day.
▶ 0:52:51Chair Grassley: I assume that you made this statement while we were deciding -- in light Sen.
▶ 0:53:04Klobuchar: I decided to do it while you are waiting for a quorum because I believe in time efficiency. >> collects, this week we come together to honor the courage, the commitment, and the sacrifice of law enforcement officers across the country. I'm proud to support the bipartisan bills. They provide law and order benefits to families of officers who made the ultimate sacrifice. They provide mental health support to officers under strain , and policing efforts that keep our neighborhoods safe.
▶ 0:53:40Klobuchar: But as we are working together on a bipartisan basis to advance these, I want to confront the housing programs that are funded and administered. The department of justice have released a likely unlawful directive that threatens to cut off violent publication grants to jurisdictions not because they've missed used funds, not because they failed to serve their community, but because they don't align with the administration's political views
▶ 0:54:10Klobuchar: On immigration enforcement. Call it what it is. It did attempt to deter what is supposed to be nonpartisan public safety funding into a political record. Federal grants like the public safety officers benefit program were created by congress for clear, lawful purposes.
▶ 0:54:38Klobuchar: Nothing in those statutes give the department of justice the authority to cut off funds to law enforcement officers, paramedics, or grieving families simply because of where they work. In fact, it's not just wrong, it's dangerous. It's the kind of federal overreach that threatens to defund the very police officers that we all are here to support. Our officers did not sign up to be pawns in a political fight. They signed up to serve, to protect and to serve.
▶ 0:55:09Klobuchar: And we have a duty to stand with them, regardless of their zip code and regardless of who is in the white house. To move these votes forward, I urge the committee to submit a clear message that public safety funding isn't a partisan bargaining chip. It is a lifeline.
▶ 0:55:29Klobuchar: We owe it to our offices -- officers and the communities that they serve to keep the funding above politics and stay focused on what is matters most, and that is the public safety of all communities. Thank you.
▶ 0:55:43Chair Grassley: Thank you. Senator moody.
▶ 0:55:49Sen. Moody: Thank you, Mr. chairman. I appreciate the time to remark on the bills being put forward. As florida's former attorney general, certainly as a former federal prosecutor, the wife of a law enforcement officer, I have the opportunity to know personally and work closely with so many law enforcement officers across the state of florida and indeed across the united states of america.
▶ 0:56:17Sen. Moody: And as the best to have worked with them no, they are the ones who stand on that very thin line between good and evil, chaos and order, light and dark, and they do so in a way that shows that they are selfless, and they stand there bravely and confidently, without hesitation, to protect us in many instances when other folks would run in the opposite direction.
▶ 0:56:43Sen. Moody: And I for one have sat in admiration of those kinds of people and those that wear the badge and those who chose the profession who take that oath many times, not only in my prior experience at rules but now as a united states senator, I continue to be inspired by them every single day.
▶ 0:57:07Sen. Moody: I think it is important that we recognize police as more than just an annual citizen, where certain ceremonies are held, memorials for them. I think we need to remember that it is a promise to them every year that we will not forget those that pay that ultimate sacrifice, so that we could live in a free nation, under a rule of law, because there were men and women of integrity that signed up for those dangerous jobs.
▶ 0:57:37Sen. Moody: And I think that we have been entrusted with the great responsibility and the rules and can say we will never forget them, we will never forget the families that lost them in the line of duty. . Because we know every day that they put on those uniforms, it is not just include that batch made includes a bullet-proof vest. And it is an absolute must in this day and age, and they know what they are taking on. They put that on every day. They know what they are taking on on our behalf.
▶ 0:58:06Sen. Moody: So I just wanted to say, thank you to those men and women who sign up for these roles, continue to sign up for them, a re led by a mission in life to be part of something that is greater than themselves. I admire that as a person, and I admire that as a leader in this country.
▶ 0:58:28Sen. Moody: I thank the families who know that they bring home with them every day a unique set of stressors, and there's often an unpredictable schedule that goes along with that. I say thank you to all of the families of law enforcement. Finally, on this particular day, we have democrats and republicans coming together to put forth legislation to support law enforcement, both federal and state, no matter what color they wear, blue, green, tan, I
▶ 0:58:58Sen. Moody: Think it is remarkable that on this day we are putting together not 1, 2, 3, but eight pieces of legislation out of this committee, and we are doing that unify, saying we support you, we support your families, and indeed we support this free nation that is held together by the men and women who enforce the laws of we the people. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 0:59:21Sen. Moody: Chairman, for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of the great men and women that wear the badge and on behalf of this committee putting forward important pieces of legislation today.
▶ 0:59:30Chair Grassley: The first item of our agenda is the nomination of jason quiñones to be united states attorney for the southern district of florida. We cannot vote on it until we get --.
▶ 0:59:51Sen. Durbin: Mr. chairman, I appreciate you calling this, and your statement, your continuing to honor. You did that for four years. A blue slip indicates that an appointment has been made, approving or disapproving, an interval part of that decision process.
▶ 1:00:18Sen. Durbin: I think that is important, and we need to work hard to make sure it continues. The white house is not consistent but we need to hold fast to that of the principles, and I urge the white house to work in a bipartisan fashion to help. Jason quiñones is nominated to be U.S.
▶ 1:00:48Sen. Durbin: Attorney for the southern district of florida. Over 80 U.S. attorneys are appointed. No roll call vote from this committee. They all went by voice vote. That has changed some because of the and sentenced -- the insistence of one republican senator, we are now required to take roll calls on each.
▶ 1:01:16Sen. Durbin: Each year determines that the roll call vote in the committee, vice president pence vice president pe vance, we also require a roll call vote on the floor.
▶ 1:01:40Sen. Durbin: This particular one, gady serralta, I'm not concerned it is consistent -- certain it is consistent with what they want to do. It has changed dramatically. It has been 120 days. Ed martin made it almost 120 days. He stepped aside.
▶ 1:02:12Sen. Durbin: Another comes in for her 120 days. I think that is a violation of what we are trying to achieve, with interim authorities, the possibility over and over again. Giving our constitution of the authority and responsibility. I yield.
▶ 1:02:37Chair Grassley: Along this line, if you figure that we have 93 U.S. attorneys and a minimum of two hours a day, a half-hour, if we do it within a half-hour hour to cast a vote, it will take 232 hours at full time to get all U.S. attorneys approved.
▶ 1:03:07Sen. Durbin: I've raised the question on the floor not to do this, because the nominees were not controversial, and we insisted on it.
▶ 1:03:23Chair Grassley: I did not talk to senator vance about it, but I did talk to another at that time about the hold up. I'm not going to say the response I got, but it was not very positive.
▶ 1:03:43Chair Grassley: And when I told the republican caucus in january of this year that that has been announced by schumer last week was bound to happen, I don't know how you handle U.S. attorneys, but if you and I could reach any sort of compromise on it, I would be glad to do it. We still don't have a quorum.
▶ 1:04:13Chair Grassley: We need to find out, are we going to get a quorum? We are going to have a quorum at 11:15. >> Mr. chairman?
▶ 1:04:30Chair Grassley: Who is it?
▶ 1:04:32Sen. Cornyn: Mr. chairman, I'm waiting, while we are waiting on a quorum, can we, is it appropriate to speak on a bill?
▶ 1:04:40Chair Grassley: Yes.
▶ 1:04:43Sen. Cornyn: May I?
▶ 1:04:43Chair Grassley: Yes.
▶ 1:04:46Sen. Cornyn: I want to speak about the reauthorization of the protect our children act. I want to thank all of our colleagues for their support. We have to continue to do what we can to protect the most vulnerable in our society. To that end, it is critical to support law enforcement in their efforts to catch child predators in the fight of online sexual exportation.
▶ 1:05:15Sen. Cornyn: If the protect our children reauthorization act does this by reauthorizing the internet crimes against children task force, the icact, which is state and law enforcement against online sexual abuse and exploitation. The protect act authorizes training and technical assistance that services community, education, and importantly, forensic and investigative funding.
▶ 1:05:44Sen. Cornyn: Online crimes against children have unfortunately become an increasing threat due to technological advances. It makes me shudder when I think that our society would be judged about how we treat our most vulnerable, and particularly our children. If the protect act is a critical step toward better safeguarding our children by providing the backbone of funding for law enforcement to track down and arrest offenders.
▶ 1:06:14Sen. Cornyn: Mr. chairman, if I may proceed and also speak on the strong communities act, which is set for our agenda today, while we are waiting for a quorum. I'm proud to coley -- coley the strong communities act with senator peters, and I thank my colleagues on the committee for supporting this bill paid as we know, we've all heard from law enforcement this week, police week, and one of the biggest challenges this week for police and law enforcement agencies is recruiting and retaining
▶ 1:06:46Sen. Cornyn: Officers. The strong communities act will address this problem by allowing funds under the community-oriented services grant program, the prop program, to be used by local law enforcement agencies to send both existing officers to new recruit training program. In return for attending these training programs, the officers agree to serve for a set number of years.
▶ 1:07:13Sen. Cornyn: In order to build trust within local communities, the bill also requires that the officers live within or near the jurisdiction of the funding agency. This bill passed the senate last congress, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that this year, we can advance the bill through both chambers and onto the president's desk to become law. Thank you, Mr. chairman. >> Mr. chairman?
▶ 1:07:42Chair Grassley: Yes, go ahead.
▶ 1:07:46Sen. Hirono: I would like to ask unanimous consent to be added as a cosponsor on s. 539.
▶ 1:07:56Chair Grassley: Yes. >> can I be considered when the quorum arrives? I want to first thank senator hawley for his leadership on the support and treatment for officers in crisis, it is an historic act. We originally passed in 2018. Provides resources for our law enforcement officers, support, when the stress of the job gets to them.
▶ 1:08:30Chair Grassley: It has been very well received in the law enforcement community. This is a clean reauthorization, with no changes to the bill, so it should be noncontroversial, and extremely bipartisan.
▶ 1:08:48Chair Grassley: Hawley, white house, blumenthal, hirono, koons -- coons, grassley, welch, booker, klobuchar, durbin. Another that senator cornyn and I have done, cosponsored by senators tillis, coons, durbin.
▶ 1:09:18Chair Grassley: This is when police officers are first to arrive at a scene where somebody has suffered traumatic injury. So that they have the equipment necessary in the training necessary to provide immediate trauma services while they are waiting for the emt's to show up.
▶ 1:09:41Chair Grassley: This makes a lot of sense, and it follows very much the logic of the bullet proof bill that we passed, the grant fund, and I would urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of it, and I thank senator cornyn for his good work, making sure that this day has come to pass.
▶ 1:10:14Chair Grassley: This is a very good way to honor police week. We will end this meeting. We are not going to have a quorum. Thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]