School Safety Enhancements Act of 2008

Floor Speech

SCHOOL SAFETY ENHANCEMENTS ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - September 15, 2008)

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2352, the School Safety Enhancement Act of 2008. Each day roughly 160,000 children miss school because they are afraid of violent incident: 100,000 children take a weapon to school, often a gun, more often a knife; 14,000 young people are attacked on school property each year; 6,250 teachers are threatened each day; and 260 teachers are assaulted. This has to stop.

Normally, the Federal Government doesn't have a role in the day-to-day activities of public schools. In this case, when, in fact, a future workforce is endangered, and the widespread use of these kinds of techniques is often done by gangs and other organized crime links that, in fact, we are fighting on another front.

So, Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this because we cannot put all of our money into fighting gangs on the street. We have to do something to secure schools. We have to make sure that gang membership is not necessary just to go to class.

Mr. Speaker, this is a bipartisan bill. This is a bill that, in fact, was first introduced by, many of the provisions were first introduced by Republicans. It is one of those bills that has transcended the change in the administration, change in leadership of the House. And I hope that we will continue to have this kind of work, finding smarter ways, better ways to stem crime on the street, including stemming crime in the classroom.

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