Providing for Consideration of H.R. Break the Cycle of Violence Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Invest to Protect Act of and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Mental Health Justice Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUTHERFORD. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I have to tell you, I have spent 40 years in law enforcement, 12 as a sheriff, as you know, and I have to tell you, never in my life have I seen law enforcement more under attack in America than I have for the last 2\1/2\ years--never.

I know the dangers that they face out there every day. I have been there. I have done that. I have to tell you, the attempts by those across the aisle to delegitimize, to demoralize, and to defund our State and local law enforcement is atrocious and unforgivable.

I hope that, come November, the American public will hold accountable some of these folks that you just heard read out. I can tell you, I don't think they are popular at all with the American public. Yet, now, leading into the midterms, we are going to come together, and we are going to throw four bills onto the floor to address law enforcement and show that we are supportive of law enforcement. I can tell you three of these bills are off that point.

First of all, the Mental Health Justice Act, the VICTIM Act, and the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, these three bills, let's take them one at a time.

The Mental Health Justice Act will actually make it more dangerous for law enforcement, make it more dangerous for our citizens. We are going to literally send mental health workers to respond to volatile situations where police officers, who are armed, go in and are killed oftentimes.

Mental health calls are some of the most dangerous calls that we handle, and we want to send civilians in lieu of law enforcement? I don't think so.

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Mr. RUTHERFORD. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

The idea that we are going to send civilians to do a law enforcement officer's job in quelling a dangerous, volatile situation is bad business.

The VICTIM Act does nothing. There is nothing new in the VICTIM Act. All it does is add to the programs that already exist in DOJ--not one single new idea in the VICTIM Act.

The Break the Cycle of Violence Act, first of all, comes with a very hefty price tag, $6.5 billion, but all that money goes to public health government bureaucrats, not law enforcement.

Listen, our job in Congress is to provide effective assistance to our law enforcement men and women. These three acts do not do that. They simply do not achieve that goal.

I am glad, however, that my colleagues have finally decided that defunding the police is not a good idea, but I wish they would look at the appropriation bills where they are basically federally defunding law enforcement because they are putting all of these strings attached to all of our DOJ grants that go to small-, medium-, and large-sized agencies.

They are never going to be able to meet those standards, never going to be able to meet all of those standards. So, basically, we just federally defunded State and local law enforcement if that passes. I hope to God it doesn't.

Instead of these misguided policies, let's work together on some solutions. Help us hire and retain some of the best and brightest officers that we have.

Madam Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on all three of these bills: the Mental Health Justice Act, the VICTIM Act, and the Break the Cycle of Violence Act. These will do nothing but endanger our law enforcement men and women.

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