Now is Time to Back the Blue
Floor Speech
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Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, across our country, parents are facing a new and scary reality this summer. As soccer camps and Little League games get back underway, there is a new and growing crime crisis that is threatening our communities.
Just last week, President Biden made the extraordinarily false comment that crime is down. President Biden is wrong. We are seeing a rise in crime throughout American cities.
In Philadelphia, there have been 315 homicides this year, an increase of over 35 percent from last year. This is unacceptable.
The people living in our communities deserve to feel safe. While families worry about the growing crime crisis, liberal leaders have turned their backs and failed to protect our neighborhoods.
Across the country, mayors and community leaders have condemned the police officers and joined protests calling to defund law enforcement. They have failed to support our police officers as the police officers are battling, firsthand, this crime wave. This dangerous rhetoric makes our communities less safe. Now is definitely not the time to defund the police.
Tragically, ambush-style attacks on law enforcement have increased 91 percent since last year. These attacks have been deadly, and unfortunately, 155 police officers have given their lives in the line of duty.
This is not the time to play games, and this is not the time to cut funding for body armor and safety equipment that protect our officers who are on the front lines.
Now more than ever, we must stand with our law enforcement officers. We must stand with our heroes to keep us safe each and every day. We must ensure that they have the tools and the training to protect themselves from harm while they protect us and protect our communities.
Now is the time to back the blue.
Now is the time to support our law enforcement.
Now is the time to speak out against the dangerous rhetoric that puts the lives of the men and women in blue in danger.
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