Providing for Consideration of H.R. Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Protecting Our Kids Act; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to oppose the previous question so that we can immediately consider my bill, H.R. 7967, the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act.

My legislation will hold prosecutors accountable and create transparency by letting the public know how many cases prosecutors are declining to prosecute, the number of offenses committed by career criminals, and the number of criminals released.

Over the past 2 years, we have seen a disturbing trend in progressive district attorneys in cities across the country who are refusing to prosecute violent criminal offenders.

Look no further than my city of New York, where Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg released a ``Day One'' memo initially directing his staff not to prosecute certain crimes, including: drug possession, trespassing, driving with a suspended license, sex trading, resisting arrest, and public obscenity.

He even directed his staff to downgrade felony charges filed by our police, including armed robbery, weapons charges, and drug dealing. Worst of all, his office will no longer seek life sentences without parole, which means the most heinous murderers, including terrorists, serial killers, cop killers, and perps who kill young children in connection with sex crimes will be released back on to our streets in 20 years or less.

These policies have sent a clear message to criminals, and that message is: Go ahead, commit crime, break the law, because we will not enforce it. What is the point of creating laws if the ones currently on the books are not enforced?

With prosecutors that refuse to prosecute, it is no surprise that crime is surging in cities across America. In Boston and Los Angeles, if you want a designer purse, toiletries, or food, you can break into any store and take it. No questions asked.

This week, LA's District Attorney George Gascon doubled down on the light sentence given to a teen driver who mowed down a mother and her newborn baby last summer. The teen only received juvenile probation, which authorities say is less than military school and a little bit tougher than summer camp.

In 2020, defund the police rioters and looters created chaos in my city of New York, destroying storefronts; they assaulted police officers, and they even put police cars on fire. While police made hundreds of arrests, New York City district attorneys dismissed the majority of those charges filed.

In the Bronx, more than 60 percent of arrestees had their charges dropped, and of the 485 rioters arrested in Manhattan, 222 individuals had their charges dropped entirely, while 73 received lesser counts.

The same goes for Federal prosecutors in Portland, Oregon, who dismissed roughly half the cases charged in connection with violence and anti-police protests.

In Philadelphia, 23-year-old Police Corporal James O'Connor was gunned down and killed in 2020 by a career felon and wanted gangbanger because the DA's office allowed him to freely roam the streets. Perhaps if the DA's office had done its job, Corporal O'Connor would be alive today. We had a similar story in my city of New York as well.

In Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco, on New Year's Eve 2020, a man slammed a stolen car into two women crossing the street, killing them both. The man, who had a lengthy criminal rap sheet, was out on parole, thanks to San Francisco's soft-on-crime DA Chesa Boudin, the son of a domestic terrorist cop-killer associated with the far-left militant group, Weather Underground.

Well, you know what? Voters have had enough of the violence and crime plaguing our communities and endangering their families. In fact, just last night, when San Francisco voters recalled Boudin, they sent a clear message that prosecutors who fail to do their job will be removed from office.

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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Madam Speaker, our Nation is under attack by criminals with no regard for property and life, and rogue district attorneys who allow them to wreak havoc on our streets.

Madam Speaker, I close with the words of the late Democrat Senator Robert Kennedy: ``Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.''

Let's stop siding with the criminals preying on our cities. Let's stop emboldening the district attorneys to lay idly by as crime plagues our streets.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support my legislation today. It is time to support our citizens, not criminals.

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