Police Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I am delighted to be here on the floor with the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the ranking member, our colleague from Vermont, whom I have worked with on so many issues, to ask unanimous consent to take up a bill that I talked about a little earlier this morning called the POLICE Act. This bill uses existing funding to support local law enforcement but specifically to make sure funding is available for active-shooter training.

For example, in San Marcos, TX, at Texas State University, they have trained 80,000 local law enforcement officials in active-shooter training. The time I remember most poignantly when this was put to good use and saved lives was at Fort Hood, TX, when MAJ Nidal Hasan stood up and killed I think about 13 people and then wounded about 30 more. There were two law enforcement officials who crashed the site, put themselves in harm's way, but thanks to the great training they had, they were able to disable Major Hasan before he was able to do any more damage. So this is very important training.

We want to make sure there are funds available--using existing funding streams but available for active-shooter training wherever it might be provided around the country.

Mr. President, as I mentioned earlier today, this week is National Police Week--a time to honor those men and women who have fallen in the line of duty.

One way we can better support our Nation's law enforcement officers is by helping them get the training they need to keep themselves and the communities they protect safe.

The POLICE Act is a bill that would do exactly that.

This bipartisan legislation would allow existing grant money available for police training to be used for active shooter training--a commonsense way to put these funds to good use in a way that does not and will not spend additional Federal money.

Right now, current law will not allow local police departments and first responders to use a substantial amount of grant funding through the Justice Department for this kind of critical training. Our bill would change that.

With all the threats they face every day on the job, we have an obligation to equip as many officers as possible with the skills and training they need to respond to an active shooter situation.

I would like to thank Senator Leahy for working with me on this legislation. I also would like to thank Chairman Grassley for his effort in getting this bill passed out of committee last week. I express my gratitude to Senator Grassley and Senator Leahy.

464, S. 2840.
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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the matter.

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Mr. CORNYN. I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I had a chance to speak on this earlier. I would defer to my colleague, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, or Senator Leahy from Vermont, my principal cosponsor.

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