Commerce, Justice, Science, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 - Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I rise to discuss an amendment I filed that takes an important step to address the disturbing level of youth violence in the city of Chicago. My amendment would allow the Attorney General to dedicate up to $5 million from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to community-based, street-level violence prevention efforts.

It breaks my heart to read the Chicago newspapers and see the stories of senseless violence that occurs on a regular basis. Stories such as that of Chastity Turner, a 9-year-old girl who was shot and killed last June while she washed her pet dogs outside her home in Englewood. Or Simeon Sanders, an Army soldier who was on furlough back home in the south suburbs when he was fatally shot in front of a community center this past July. Or 17-year-old Corey McClaurin, a high school senior shot and killed by a gunman while sitting in his car just a few weeks ago. Many of us have seen the shocking, startling videotape of the beating death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert, buried in Chicago last Saturday.

These stories simply overwhelm us. My heart goes out to the families and all the loved ones grieving for their loss. No one ever should have to face the tragedy of losing a child to such senseless violence.

All too often this violence ends up involving school-age children. We lose a classroom's worth of schoolchildren each year to deadly shootings in Chicago and hundreds more are injured. Chicago is a great city. I love representing that city and being part of it. It breaks my heart to think that for many people across America, this is a new image, an image of children being killed in the streets, shot, beaten. It isn't what the city is all about. It isn't the values of the city. But we have to do better. Youth violence is devastating to families, communities and schools in Chicago and other urban centers.

Wednesday, Mayor Daley and the CEO of the Chicago public schools, Ron Huberman, met with Attorney General Eric Holder and the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to talk about ways to stop this epidemic of violence. As this meeting demonstrated, officials at the local, State, and Federal level are committed to taking bold action. Starting this year and using Department of Education dollars that were made available through the economic recovery package, the Chicago public school system will provide an unprecedented degree of intervention and support for school children who, according to statistical indicators, are at the greatest risk of being caught up in violence.

This plan provides employment and adult mentoring for at-risk students. It provides structure and guidance to help prevent them from becoming victims. This comprehensive youth violence plan will also involve coordination with law enforcement, particularly to help secure areas on the way to and from schools where kids tend to congregate and where violence often flares.

Ron Huberman is a very smart man. He runs our public school system in Chicago. Previously, he had been a Chicago policeman. He tried to analyze the school violence and come up an approach. What they did was to enlist some experts who did basically a statistical profile of both the victims and perpetrators of violence over the last few years in Chicago. Who are these young people? How do they find themselves in these predicaments? What are indicators that they are likely to become violent in their own lives or become victims of violence? He found recurring patterns. What he has suggested, with the cooperation of Mayor Daley, is intervention at an early age so we can get to these children before they become victims, before they turn to violent ways. It is an innovative and thoughtful approach. I support it.

I am pleased the Justice Department is providing substantial assistance to Chicago to combat crime. It has been one of my priorities in recent years to make sure the Justice Department is doing all it can to partner with Chicago to try and stop youth violence.

Last year, then-Senator Obama and I asked Attorney General Mukasey to include Chicago in the Department of Justice's Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative. This is a program which provides extra money for selected cities for gang enforcement, prevention, and prisoner reentry initiatives. At our request, the Justice Department included Chicago and has provided $2 million in additional Federal funding for this purpose.

I have also strongly supported the COPS Program and Byrne-JAG grants, and so many other areas where we have assisted law enforcement. Over the last 2 years, we have been able to provide dramatic increases in law enforcement funding for Chicago and Cook County. In fiscal year 2008, Chicago received $1.4 million in Byrne-JAG local law enforcement grants. But this year, through the stimulus act passed by Congress at the inspiration of President Obama and through the fiscal year 2009 Justice Department spending bill, we increased that amount to $35 million, bolstering police efforts in that area.

The Chicago Police Department recently was awarded funding for 50 new cops on the beat through the $1 billion program the stimulus act provided for hiring new cops.

I know Attorney General Holder's commitment to this issue. I know he is genuine. I raised the matter with him at a Senate hearing earlier this year. He made clear the administration's dedication to helping solve this problem.

Arne Duncan also is a true champion of the city of Chicago, its schools and kids and families who depend on him. He wants to reduce violence and is dedicated to it.

The efforts we are putting into Chicago have helped some. In the first 7 months of 2009, we saw an 11-percent drop in homicides and a 9-percent drop in all crimes. This is due, in large part, to the dedicated efforts of law enforcement. But while beefed-up law enforcement is essential, it is not enough. We have to do more to prevent children from turning to violence.

I have worked with a group called CeaseFire, which goes into the most violent neighborhoods of Chicago and tries to treat violence as if it is a public health issue. How do you eradicate a public health issue? With intervention. They do it on the streets. I have put--and I will use the word--earmarks in continuing appropriations bills year after year for CeaseFire, a community-based program to bring peace to the streets of Chicago. No apologies. It is an earmark. I will put it in again, if I get a chance, because I believe they are saving lives, and it is money well spent.

CeaseFire was reviewed by the Justice Department in an evidence-based study and was found to have a significant impact in reducing shootings and killings. The amendment I will offer, when we get a chance to return to this bill, will help enhance the efforts of crime prevention organizations such as CeaseFire. It only permits--it doesn't mandate--the Attorney General to devote up to $5 million of grant money from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for community-based violence prevention.

As Attorney General Holder mentioned Wednesday in Chicago, the administration supports community-based programs. This gives them the resources to make that work. It doesn't require an offset. It simply broadens the purposes for which the administration can use existing funds.

The problem with youth violence is not new, and it is not exclusively Chicago's problem. But it is not inevitable either. We must help provide a safer, more stable environment for these kids. It will take a sustained commitment to do so. My amendment is a step in that effort I hope my colleagues will support. I urge adoption of the amendment when we return to the bill.

I yield the floor.

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