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Floor Speech

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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, I would say, if this bill was so important-- we have had over 20 markups in the Judiciary Committee--why didn't this bill come up? We have had markups in the last 2 days on one occasion, so I don't know why this bill didn't come up.

Mr. Speaker, this is about giving dollars to community organizers. This bill is most definitely--$5 billion goes to Health and Human Services, $1.5 billion goes to the Department of Labor, zero money goes to law enforcement.

In the last bill, they could at least make that case somewhat. This bill you can't. It doesn't give one penny to law enforcement. In fact, the legislation explicitly says it can't go to police officers and it can't go to police departments.

But what it does do is this: sets up an Office of Community Violence Intervention to administer programs or activities related to violence intervention; it sets up a Community Violence Intervention Advisory Committee; it sets up a National Community Violence Response Center. Three new bureaucracies in the Department of HHS. I mean, wow.

This is all about taking money, taking American tax dollars from communities who did fund their police and setting up three new bureaucracies, $5 billion for community organizers.

If that is what you are for, vote for it, but I sure ain't. I know the folks I represent and, I would guess, most Americans aren't for that.

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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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