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Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, this week our Nation observes National Police Week. That observation began in 1962, when President Kennedy claimed the first Police Week as a time dedicated to pay tribute to our law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.

President Kennedy's proclamation stated that, during this week, ``all of our people may join in commemorating police officers, past and present, who by their faithful and loyal devotion to their responsibilities have rendered a dedicated service to their communities and, in so doing, have established for themselves an enviable and enduring reputation for preserving the rights and security of all citizens.''

This afternoon I rise with my colleagues to honor the dedication and sacrifice of our law enforcement officers.

Over the course of this week, we pay tribute to 443 officers who gave their lives in the line of duty in 2022.

Saturday night, just a few days ago, hundreds of police officers, family members, and others, gathered for the annual candlelight vigil honoring our fallen officers. Among those memorialized this week are four brave Kansas officers.

Deputy Sheriff Sidnee Carter, with the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office, was tragically killed in an automobile crash while responding to a night disturbance call.

We also lost Sheriff Robert Craft from Marion County, Officer David Ingle from the Iola Police Department, and Sergeant Stacy Murrow from the Linn County Sheriff's Department--all Kansans.

In fact, all Americans are grateful to those officers for their service and honor them in making the ultimate sacrifice for the benefit of others, for the benefit of the people they knew in their community, but also for the benefit of people they never met.

While the purpose of Police Week is to honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, we also should remember how those police officers' lives as husbands and wives and mothers and fathers--as members of their communities--they were people who happened to wear a uniform, who happened to take up a career to serve others, to protect and defend.

From educating kids in school about the dangers of substance abuse or providing driver safety education, coordinating neighborhood watch associations, and speaking at business luncheons, schools and community townhall meetings, law enforcement strive to make our community a safe place to live and raise a family and to work to foster a more safe and secure environment; in a sense, to provide justice.

During this National Police Week and throughout the year, we should remember that law enforcement needs our support. We should provide them the resources they need to do their jobs. We must also give them the tools they need to build and strengthen the bonds of trust with those they serve and our best efforts to address the underlying challenges that face our communities and individuals in their lives.

I serve as the lead Republican on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee with appropriations jurisdiction over the Department of Justice. I am committed to making certain our law enforcement officers have the resources and support they need to do their job effectively and safely.

We honor the service and sacrifice of our Nation's fallen law enforcement officers, remember those who departed, and acknowledge and express our gratitude for the sacrifices all law enforcement officers make every day they wear the badge.

During this week--and, really, every other week of the year--we should, and we do, honor those we have lost and remember the families they left behind. We ask God to comfort them in their time of grief and be a source of strength for them in their lives. May God bless our police and our local law enforcement officers. May God bless them as they do their duties, and may God hold in His arms those we have lost this past year.

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