Providing for Consideration of H.R. Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Pregnant Workers Fairness Act; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge defeat of the previous question so that we can immediately consider the Protect and Serve Act, my bipartisan bill to increase penalties for individuals who deliberately target law enforcement officers with violence.

Throughout my 40 years of law enforcement, including 12 as sheriff, I have seen firsthand the dangerous situations our men and women in law enforcement face every day. In Jacksonville, in fact, our memorial wall is filled with the names of many good police officers who laid down their lives in service to their community.

This Police Week, we are honoring the memory of the 394 officers our Nation lost last year. We pause to remember their sacrifice and pledge to support policies that keep our officers safe. These policies should include harsh penalties for violence targeted against our men and women in blue.

When I first introduced the Protect and Serve Act in 2018, it was overwhelmingly passed by the House 382-35.

Police Week has always been a unifying time to honor those lost, but now, now the majority will barely acknowledge it.

What is going on?

I think the answer is simple. Supporting our police has become unpopular in the Democratic Party. Pressure from online radicals, political pundits who have never worn a badge, never been on a ride- along, they are dictating what policies the House majority will support.

To make matters worse, House Democrats are pushing a police reform bill right now that eliminates qualified immunity, the lifeblood of law enforcement. Mr. Speaker, without qualified immunity, the entire profession would end as we know it today.

It makes you wonder if that is their goal: End local law enforcement and replace it with a national police force similar to almost every socialist country in the world.

Regardless, the growing antipolice rhetoric and widespread efforts to defund police departments are leaving officers increasingly at risk to attacks in communities less safe.

As mentioned earlier, we are not even halfway through 2021 and we have already seen more police officers shot this year than all of last year. Meanwhile, as mentioned earlier, American cities are experiencing a spike in violent crime. The U.S. surpassed 20,000 murders last year for the first time since 1995. And just this year, shootings in Chicago, up 43 percent; New York City, Los Angeles, up 36 percent; Washington, D.C., homicide up 63 percent.

Mr. Speaker, it turns out if you demoralize, defund, and delegitimize the police, crime goes up. I know many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle do support law enforcement. I know that. In fact, I know that a particular few even have backgrounds in law enforcement.

Mr. Speaker, so this is what I would like to impart to my Democrat colleagues: Here is your chance to say during Police Week that you support our law enforcement officers. Vote for my bill, the Protect and Serve Act, just like you did in 2018, and show your constituent police officers that you have their backs.

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