Local School Boards
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. GRASSLEY. Last week, Attorney General Garland said something very extraordinary. He said he would not withdraw his memo in which he instructed the FBI to get involved with local school boards.
Why would the FBI be interested in parents' meetings with their school board? If there is a reason for law enforcement to be involved, it is probably something local law enforcement can handle.
So the direction will have the effect of intimidating parents who speak out about their children's education. And make no mistake about it, we have heard those reports from the parents themselves. The Attorney General should then withdraw the memo.
Here are the facts:
No. 1, on September 29, the National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Biden asking for help from Federal law enforcement against concerned parents who are getting involved at local school board meetings. That letter compared parents to domestic terrorists. It even suggested the PATRIOT Act should be used against them. Now, remember, the PATRIOT Act was passed 20 years ago, written to protect Americans against terrorists.
Point No. 2: On October 4, Attorney General Garland put out a memo telling the FBI and other parts of the Department of Justice to work with local governments on the supposed spike in harassment, intimidation, and threat of violence against local school boards. The National Security Division is included as well, apparently because they deal with domestic terrorists and the PATRIOT Act.
Attorney General Garland has since testified that he gave the Department of Justice this instruction because of what he read in the National School Boards Association letter to President Biden just 5 days earlier of when the memo was issued. This is an extraordinary deployment of Federal law enforcement in local issues when we have problems--very big problems--like a historic murder surge and especially an open southern border. That latter, the southern border, you see the chaos and the crisis every day on television.
From these two points, what have we learned since the memo was put out? First, we learned the White House helped write the original letter from the National School Boards Association sent to the White House, not to the Department of Justice. Next, we learned that the State school board associations, affiliated with the national association, had nothing to do with putting together the letter. Over 20 of these State organizations have publicly disavowed the National School Boards Association's letter that brought about this directive.
Now, think about that. The White House helped write a letter to itself comparing parents who love their kids to domestic terrorists, but the actual members of the National School Boards Association had nothing to do with it.
On October 22, the National School Boards Association actually apologized for its original letter that started this whole mess in the first place and was never even authorized by its own board.
Meanwhile, 17 State attorneys general have written to Attorney General Garland saying there has been no spike in violence against local school boards. So the idea that parents pose any sort of Federal threat to local school boards is all just simply made up by what looks to be the White House for political purposes.
Despite all that, the Attorney General says he will not change one thing about his memo telling the Department of Justice to continue focusing on local school boards. That memo stands, as far as the Attorney General is concerned.
Attorney General Garland says that he doesn't see how it could be interpreted to mean the FBI will go after impassioned parents. He says there are lines in constitutional law that law enforcement can't cross. Well, that is true, but he has been working with the Constitution his entire life. However, most parents and most school board members aren't experts on the First Amendment.
These parents are reading the Attorney General's own words to mean that when they speak passionately at local school board meetings, they could get in trouble with Federal officials. So parents are going to stop speaking up at local school board meetings, and that is what is known as a chilling effect.
That might be what some at the White House or the National School Boards Association wanted all along, but it is a horrible thing for our democracy, and it should never happen in the United States of America.
Attorney General Garland has said he wants to depoliticize the Department of Justice. Now, he wants Federal prosecutors parsing what parents say to their local school board members. This is because he thinks there is a disturbing spike in violence by parents, but he is not actually sure if that is right. And this instruction is going to scare parents out of speaking their minds at local school board meetings. But the Attorney General won't change his instructions to the FBI.
Mr. Attorney General, parents are not domestic terrorists, and you have only one reasonable choice: Withdraw this memo and focus on the real threats and dangers that American citizens face. Stop being a pawn for the White House by politicizing the Department of Justice.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source