Daca

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Florida for yielding his time. He is not only the Senator from Florida; he is also a former Governor.

Mr. President, I am here today to talk about the brave men and women of law enforcement in Montana and across this Nation. These men and women, many who are my friends, are the best of the best. Montana heroes literally put their lives on the line every day to protect our families--our moms, our dads, our kids. They don't do it for the pay or the accolades; they do it to serve their communities, to keep us safe.

The men and women wearing that badge accept that every time they leave home to go to their shift and give their loved ones a kiss goodbye, they may never come back home. That is courage.

My home county sheriff--Gallatin County, MT--Sheriff Brian Gootkin-- just a little over 1 week ago, we had a huge, massive wildfire that struck the Bridgers just north and east of Bozeman. It has been my hometown for 56 years. There were huge plumes of smoke, a great big fire--11,000 acres. They rushed into the fire and evacuated the residents there. Twenty-eight homes were destroyed, and not a single person lost their life. I can tell you why--because of the actions of the Gallatin sheriff's department, firefighters, and other agencies.

This courage is something we should celebrate every day. This is something we should defend every day, including right here on the floor of the U.S. Senate. But, sadly, some people have other ideas.

The way that members of our law enforcement are being treated right now around this country is atrocious. It is disturbing. Just this past weekend, two members of L.A.'s law enforcement, a man and a woman, were ambushed while sitting in their car--shot point-blank. Many of you have seen the horrifying videos.

If that weren't sickening enough, there were violent protesters storming the hospital that they were being treated at and chanting ``Let them die.'' There are no words to describe the outrage of what is happening here. This anti-police rhetoric is beyond dangerous, and those who support it should be ashamed of themselves. They should be publicly condemned by every Senator, every Representative, and every Governor across this great country.

In fact, just this year, 37 officers have been killed. By the way, that is more than a 20-percent increase over the same time last year. Being a police officer in this country is more dangerous than ever before. I am having private conversations with members of law enforcement, our peace officers, men and women who will quietly tell you that it is difficult to continue to serve in this environment where they are not getting the support of their elected officials. I will tell you they are getting the support of their communities in many cases, though. But where is the outrage being expressed by those who are elected to serve, and how are these heroes repaid?

Cities and towns across our country, including Montana's very own city, Missoula, are talking about reducing their budgets and proposing abolishment in some areas--abolishment of police departments. That talk is crazy. We have some of this crazy talk in Montana, where some of our communities were looking to take school resource officers out of our schools. They were looking to slash budgets. Thankfully--thankfully-- the community rose up, and they pushed back and, in most cases, stopped it. That is happening right in Montana in some communities.

The Senators standing before you today will not accept it. We should not be defunding the police. We should be defending them.

To my Democratic colleagues who support defunding these American heroes and these Montana heroes, you should be ashamed. I will always back the blue.

I yield back to my colleague Senator Scott.

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