Reauthorizing Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program

Floor Speech

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The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program stands as a shining example of the public safety collaboration between Congress and local governments to improve public safety and protect the officers who protect us.

In the 20 years that the program has been in existence, Congress has allocated funds that have enabled local law enforcement agencies to purchase more than 1.3 million bulletproof vests. Through this program, thousands of officers have survived what would otherwise have been deadly shootings.

Without the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program, local jurisdictions that lack the financial means to purchase vests would simply be unable to do so.

As reauthorized under H.R. 2379, the program would give priority to small jurisdictions that apply for assistance. Those that most need the Federal support will continue to have priority.

An often-overlooked element of the program is the supporting role the National Institute of Justice plays in providing expert analysis on the quality and life expectancy of bulletproof vests, ensuring that officers who patrol our streets every day and every night wear vests that will give them the measure of safety that they deserve. Importantly, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program has worked in recent years to ensure the vests that female officers are issued fit properly and provide the same protection as the vests that male officers are issued.

With H.R. 2379, the House today takes a crucial step toward ending an uncertainty concerning the future of the program by permanently authorizing its funding at $30 million per year.

It is fitting that we consider this important legislation at the start of National Police Week, which honors those who serve and have paid the ultimate price and sacrifice in protecting our communities.

Since President John F. Kennedy first signed the proclamation designating National Peace Officers Memorial Day in 1962, officers and citizens assemble in our Nation's Capital during Police Week to thank law enforcement officers for their service, dedication, and commitment.

It is in that spirit that we seek to reauthorize the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program. It is also fitting that this bill names the program in honor of the distinguished Senator from Vermont, Patrick Leahy, who played a critical role in conceiving it and who has been a consistent champion of its continuation and, now, its permanent reauthorization.

I thank Senator Leahy for his leadership.

I would be remiss if I were not to recognize the tireless efforts of the author of H.R. 2379, my good friend Congressman Bill Pascrell, who has worked diligently to bring this bipartisan bill to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, this is an important bill that will help protect those who put their lives on the line to protect us.

This could not be a more solemn moment than what my friend from Georgia just expressed to the Nation about our State and local law enforcement personnel, male, female, Black, White, Latino, Asian, this legislation is an effort to protect them.

And I will note that there have not been just one, but actually three deaths of law enforcement officers already this year in the State of Georgia. The numbers are up. It is very concerning, and this is something that we can do to help protect the lives of our law enforcement officers.

I know that my friend from Georgia, Representative Collins, has a long and storied history of support for State and local law enforcement, and I stand with him in his concern, and I stand with him in his support for this very important legislation that my friend, Bill Pascrell, has introduced.

I will note that a lot of little boys and girls who first go into law enforcement, they go into local and State law enforcement, and then they are able to attain their ultimate dream, which is to become an FBI agent.

FBI agents are Federal law enforcement agents. They are sworn to protect and serve; they wear a gun, and they wake up every morning not knowing what they will face during that day. Some have given their lives in the ultimate sacrifice for this Nation.

So, in addition to our State and local law enforcement agents, we, today, uphold our Federal law enforcement agents who work for the various Federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, with its storied history of integrity.

So, it is not about what we say; it is about what we do. It is about what we say also, because what we say has an impact on those who serve us. And we cannot, because of one or two outliers, indict the entire State or local law enforcement agency for the imperfections of the few; nor can we do so with our Federal law enforcement agencies, particularly our premier Federal law enforcement agency, the FBI.

I support the FBI. I support our State and local law enforcement agencies.

The top law enforcement individual in the country is the Attorney General, and our Attorney General has declared war on the FBI by ordering a third investigation into the origins of the Mueller investigation. This is nothing more than an attack on our own premier law enforcement agency. It is politics reduced to its lowest level at the same time as Police Week is occurring.

What does it say to those down the line, to those aspiring boys and girls who aspire to be FBI agents?

What does it say to the men and women who are currently in law enforcement and looking to move into Federal law enforcement?

Well, it doesn't tell them to not aspire to that height. I think most look beyond the politics of the day, and when they consider the legislation that is at hand, they support it without regard to political persuasion. They support the fact that H.R. 2379, introduced by my friend Bill Pascrell, is a testament to the important role that Congress plays in promoting officer safety today and for decades to come.

In passing this bill during Police Week, we acknowledge the many contributions that law enforcement officers make to public safety, and we thank them for their service. We also recognize that there are challenges within law enforcement that we must weed out and that are an affront to the ideals that law enforcement officers are taught to adhere to, and we must do that, as well.

But today it is not about that. Today it is about bulletproof vests for our law enforcement officers on the State and local level. We will make sure that our Federal officers are always protected, but today it is about State and local law enforcement agents and agencies, particularly those that cannot afford to purchase these bulletproof vests or to keep current in terms of these vests when they wear out.

They do wear out, and they have to be replaced, and they have to have money to do that. This bill will enable $30 million per year to be permanently authorized. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.

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