Invest to Protect Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1377, I call up the bill (H.R. 6448) to direct the Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the Department of Justice to carry out a grant program to provide assistance to police departments with fewer than 200 law enforcement officers, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. NADLER. 6448.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6448, the Invest to Protect Act, is bipartisan legislation to bolster law enforcement agencies' ability to address staffing shortages and improve community safety through de-escalation training and mental health resources.

Let me be clear, Democrats have always stood for equitable funding for law enforcement. Contrary to what some of my colleagues might say, the issue of violent crime is not a red State or blue State issue. The rise in violent crime affects every community across the country.

Democrats also know that public safety and respect for civil rights can coexist. Building healthy and strong communities does not require us to choose between our rights and our safety.

This legislation would establish a grant program focused on improving recruitment and retention of officers and providing additional training and access to mental health resources for small law enforcement agencies.

When police departments are unable to recruit, retain, and adequately resource qualified officers, communities suffer a clear threat to public safety. These officer staffing shortages can cause longer wait times for emergency calls, fewer crimes cleared, and more overworked officers, which can threaten both officer health and the quality of life in our communities.

This bill seeks to address these challenges by providing additional Federal resources to small agencies to recruit and retain qualified officers, as well as provide additional training and support for these agencies.

I thank Representative Josh Gottheimer for his leadership on this issue and for introducing this important legislation along with his bipartisan cosponsors.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. NADLER. Jackson Lee), a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I think it should be noted that this bill, H.R. 6448, the Invest to Protect Act of 2022, is bipartisan legislation that would bolster small law enforcement agencies' ability to address staffing shortages and improve community safety through de- escalation training and other resources.

It was Democrats who spent 2 years negotiating and working with law enforcement to introduce and pass the comprehensive George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which recognized the necessity of balancing the needs and safety of community in which law enforcement interests engage. I worked on that.

I worked on that. That is why I tried to make this bill better by adding three additional purposes for grant funding which include issues dealing with use of lethal force, excessive force, and duty of care.

I am glad that they were added, and grantees who choose these activities will be required to do this under this particular provision.

We can do this together. And let me be very clear: this is not a last-ditch effort by Democrats to distance ourselves from efforts to defund the police.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6448, the ``Invest to Protect Act of 2022,''--bipartisan legislation that would bolster small law enforcement agencies' ability to address staffing shortages and improve community safety through de-escalation training and other resources.

First, let's be clear--This is not a last-ditch effort by Democrats to distance ourselves from efforts to defund the police. Democrats have always been supportive of law enforcement.

We have been accused of spending the last two years bashing the police. Yet, it was Democrats who spent two years negotiating and working with law enforcement to introduce and pass the comprehensive ``George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021''--which recognized the necessity of balancing the needs and safety of the community with law enforcement interests.

H.R. 6448 would establish a grant program within the Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, program focused on improving recruitment and retention of officers and providing additional training and access to mental health resources for small law enforcement agencies.

When police departments are unable to recruit, retain or provide suitable resources to qualified officers, communities suffer a clear threat to public safety. A June 2021 national survey by the Police Executive Research Forum found that, on average, police departments around the country were filling only 93 percent of their available budgeted positions.

These officer staffing shortages can cause longer wait times for emergency calls, fewer crimes cleared, and more overworked officers, which can threaten both officer health and the quality of life in our communities.

This bill seeks to address these challenges by providing additional federal resources to small agencies--that often have the most trouble accessing federal grant funding--to recruit and retain qualified officers as well as provide additional training and support.

A 2016 study by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that of the 12,261 local police departments in the country, 11,638 of them had less than 100 full-time sworn officers. That is 11,638 police departments that would be eligible to access much-needed funding as authorized by H.R. 6448.

Importantly, H.R. 6448 includes limitations on the use of grant funds for hiring and retention to ensure that the funds are not misused, and gives preference to applicants that plan to use grant funds for certain training purposes, including:

de-escalation; the use of lethal and nonlethal force; the duty of care and the duty to intervene--as well as--

victim-centered training on handling domestic violence situations; and

safety training for officers responding to calls involving persons with substance use disorders, mental health needs, disabilities, and vulnerable youth.

This bill would also allow departments to use funds to provide mental health services and treatment to officers and collect data on policing practices that focus on officer and community safety.

In its totality, H.R. 6448 provides critical funding to law enforcement agencies that need it while encouraging improvement among their ranks. This bill makes clear that Democrats will continue to uplift and support law enforcement--as we always have--and we will do so in a manner that ensures officers are well-trained to keep themselves safe as well as the people and communities they serve.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Democrats have always been supportive of law enforcement along with our civil rights friends, and we have put in firewalls to insist that we work together with law enforcement and large and small entities and that we work with on behalf of justice for our constituents and for providing wellness to our police officers, providing intervention of violence, and as well to ensure that we assist in cases that are backlogged. Democrats have been at the forefront. I am very glad to say that we don't ask to defund the FBI, we ask to be supportive of our community.

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Mr. NADLER. Spanberger).
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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I am astonished that Mr. Fitzgerald would admit that the Republicans want to defund the police by 75 percent. That is what he just said. After all the Republican rhetoric about the Democrats wanting to defund the police--which, of course, is not true-- Mr. Fitzgerald just got up and told us the Republicans want to defund the police by 75 percent.

Mr. Speaker, this bill would bolster law enforcement across the country and improve public safety. I think it is telling that people like Mr. Rutherford on the Republican side of the aisle helped craft this bill with people like Mr. Gottheimer on this side of the aisle.

On the other hand, there are, obviously, a lot of Republicans like Mr. Jordan who want to defund the police or at least defund small town America police by opposing this bill.

So, Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support small town America and to support policing in small town America by supporting this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6448, the ``Invest to Protect Act of 2022,''--bipartisan legislation that would bolster small law enforcement agencies' ability to address staffing shortages and improve community safety through de-escalation training and other resources.

It was Democrats who spent two years negotiating and working with law enforcement to introduce and pass the comprehensive ``George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021''--which recognized the necessity of balancing the needs and safety of the community with law enforcement interests.

That is why I tried to make this bill better by adding three additional purposes for the use of grant funding.

Development and implementation of best practices and training on the use of lethal and nonlethal force;

Development and implementation of best practices and training to eliminate the use of excessive force;

Development and implementation of best practices and training on the duty of care and the duty to intervene.

I am glad those provisions were added where grantees who choose to implement those activities will be given preference.

This bill seeks to address these challenges by providing additional federal resources to small agencies--that often have the most trouble accessing federal grant funding--to recruit and retain qualified officers as well as provide additional training and support.

A 2016 study by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that of the 12,261 local police departments in the country, 11,638 of them had less than 100 full-time sworn officers. That is 11,638 police departments that would be eligible to access much-needed funding as authorized by H.R. 6448.

Importantly, H.R. 6448 includes limitations on the use of grant funds for hiring and retention to ensure that the funds are not misused, and gives preference to applicants that plan to use grant funds for certain training purposes, including:

de-escalation; the use of lethal and nonlethal force; the duty of care and the duty to intervene--as well as--

victim-centered training on handling domestic violence situations; and

safety training for officers responding to calls involving persons with substance use disorders, mental health needs, disabilities, and vulnerable youth.

This bill would also allow departments to use funds to provide mental health services and treatment to officers and collect data on policing practices that focus on officer and community safety.

In its totality, H.R. 6448 provides critical funding to law enforcement agencies that need it while encouraging improvement among their ranks. This bill makes clear that Democrats will continue to uplift and support law enforcement--as we always have--and we will do so in a manner that ensures officers are well-trained to keep themselves safe as well as the people and communities they serve.

Let's be clear--This is not a last-ditch effort by Democrats to distance ourselves from efforts to defund the police. Democrats have always been supportive of law enforcement.

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