Police Departments (Cong. Rec., July 21, 2021)
Summary
Congressional Record, Senate, page S5006, July 21, 2021, under Police Departments. Mr. Cruz discusses a statement by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, in response to a question from Peter Doocy, that Republicans have defunded the police. Cruz states that Democrat-led city councils have cut police budgets, citing a vote in Oakland to cut over $18 million and a pledge by Mayor Bill de Blasio to cut the NYPD budget by $1 billion. Cruz also states that Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke were confirmed to Department of Justice positions, and cites a USA TODAY poll finding that only 18 percent of Americans support defunding the police.
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“Police Departments (Cong. Rec., July 21, 2021).”
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S5006 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 21, 2021
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR—Continued And then there is Representative homicides skyrocket. What did they do
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- AYANNA PRESSLEY, who has introduced in Oakland, CA? The city council voted
ator from Texas. legislation to defund police officers in to cut over $18 million from the police
public schools. And she has said that department, and Oakland has already
POLICE DEPARTMENTS
defunding the police is about ‘‘true rep- seen a 90-percent increase in homicides
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I rise today
arations.’’ Well, maybe this is just a over last year.
to discuss facts and fiction. Recently, The New York Times has also re-
few fringe Democrats in the House of
FOX News reporter Peter Doocy asked ported data showing that in 2020, homi-
Representatives. Maybe it is not a
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki cide rates increased more than 30 per-
broader policy of the Democratic
about a Biden administration official’s cent in big cities. So far, they are in-
Party.
claim that Republicans have defunded What about Joe Biden? Uncle Joe creasing again this year.
the police by not voting to pass Biden’s can’t possibly support defunding the According to the Guardian, some pre-
wasteful $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. Ms. police, right? Well, if you thought so, liminary data showed that there were
Psaki doubled down on the idea that it you would be wrong because Joe Biden 4,000 more murders in 2020 than there
is Republicans and not Democrats who nominated two of the leading advo- were in 2019—4,000 men, women, and
want to defund the police. cates of abolishing the police—Vanita children who would be living, breath-
When a White House Press Secretary Gupta and Kristen Clarke—to senior ing, living their lives, raising their
gives a press briefing, you expect some positions at the U.S. Department of kids, contributing to the diverse tap-
spin. You expect some verbal bobbing Justice. One of them is the No. 3 offi- estry of our Nation if it were not for
and weaving if the topic is unflattering cial at the Department of Justice. The the radicals slashing police budgets be-
to the administration. But when Jen other is the head of civil rights at the cause of extreme ideological commit-
Psaki tried to blame Republicans for Department of Justice. Both had writ- ments and unleashing these
defunding the police, it wasn’t spin. It ten, as recently as last year, explicit crimewaves.
was horse manure. It was gaslighting. calls for defunding the police, and they Now, Democrats know that the poli-
For over a year, Democrats and left- got rewarded with helping run the De- tics and the policy of defunding the po-
wing activists have been calling over partment of Justice. lice aren’t working for them, which is
and over and over again to defund the But surely, you might say, even if why they are desperately trying to
police. And many Democrat-led city Joe Biden gave in to the activists and backtrack and blame and gaslight Re-
councils and Democrat mayors have nominated these folks, there are Demo- publicans. Yeah, yeah, it is the Repub-
done so, cutting and even slashing po- crats in this Chamber who would say licans who are doing this. Sure, sure,
lice budgets. As a result of those reck- defunding the police is too much; let’s that is the ticket.
less policies, we are seeing a deeply not go that far. Well, if you would say Not only did some Democrats blame
concerning wave of violent crime in that, you would be wrong because both calls to defund the police for close
American cities across the country. of those nominees, two of the leading races that they lost in November and
The chief White House spokesperson advocates for defunding the police, for the razor-thin Democratic majority
blaming Republicans for defunding the were confirmed when every single in the U.S. Senate, they also know it
police is like an arsonist showing up at Democrat in this Chamber voted to isn’t popular with the American peo-
the fire and blaming the firemen. It is confirm them—100 percent. ple. A recent USA TODAY poll found
like the Chinese Communist Party The next time you see a Democrat that only 18 percent of Americans sup-
blaming America for the Wuhan virus. describing themselves as moderate, port defunding the police, and a large
It is like OJ saying he is going to help reasonable, not one of those crazies majority of African Americans don’t
find the real killer. It is absurd. It is ri- saying things like ‘‘defund the police,’’ support defunding the police. The same
diculous. And Democrats know it. maybe you should ask them why they is true for Democratic voters. A large
Let’s look at the facts. Democrats voted to confirm two of the leading ad- majority of Democratic voters don’t
have called explicitly to defund the po- vocates for defunding the police to sen- support defunding the police. But in de-
lice for over a year and have been suc- ior positions at the Department of Jus- fiance of the interests of their con-
cessful in doing it. New York Mayor tice. stituents, Democrats continue to go
Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, last sum- Democrat-led city councils all over down that road. The facts are that
mer pledged to cut the NYPD budget the country are following the same Democrats have repeatedly called to
by $1 billion, and then he did so. New game plan, and they have voted over defund the police, and they have done
York City passed a budget that did in- and over and over again to defund the so—this isn’t a theory—they have done
deed cut $1 billion from the police de- police. Last year, the Los Angeles City so in many cities.
partment. Council cut the police budget by $150 Crime is rising, and radical Demo-
Just a couple of months ago, de million. Portland cut $15 million from cratic policies have had deadly con-
Blasio was forced to backtrack. He re- its police budget. Minneapolis cut $8 sequences. Not only have homicides
alized what a terrible decision it had million from its police budget. Seattle risen, but there were more law enforce-
been because now he is working to re- cut its police budget by 18 percent. ment officer fatalities in 2020 than
verse it. Now, what do these city have in com- there had been in 46 years. In 2020, 264
AOC, the darling of the extreme left- mon? They are run by Democrats. It is law enforcement officers tragically
wing, has said: ‘‘Defunding [the] police Democratic politicians who are slash- died in the line of duty, some from
means defunding [the] police’’ and ing police budgets. And what have the COVID–19 as a result of being first re-
‘‘The fight to defund [the police] con- results been? Well, sadly, these Demo- sponders and others from getting shot
tinues.’’ There is not a lot of ambiguity cratic-led cities are reaping what they while on duty.
in what AOC is saying. sowed. Crime rates are skyrocketing. After Jen Psaki blamed Republicans
And she is not alone. How about Rep- The New York Times—hardly a right- for defunding the police, Peter Doocy
resentative RASHIDA TLAIB. She has wing outfit—the New York Times has asked her to name the Republicans who
called for ‘‘no more policing.’’ Stop and reported that homicides in Los Angeles said they were voting against the
think about that for a minute. This is increased 36 percent, that homicides American Rescue Plan—the massive
an elected Democratic Member of Con- have increased in Portland more than leftwing spending plan—that had noth-
gress whose policy objective is no more 82 percent, and that homicides in Min- ing to do with the police. It was shov-
policing. Those are her own words. neapolis increased nearly 72 percent eling a lot of money to liberal special
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How about Representative ILHAN last year. By all appearances, these interests. It was giving money to State
OMAR. She has said: ‘‘You can’t really homicide spikes will continue through- and local governments. So the White
reform a department that is rotten to out this year. House argument was, well, some of the
the root.’’ An elected Democratic Just a few weeks ago, Democrats money to State and local governments
Member of Congress describing police demonstrated that they couldn’t learn could theoretically have gone to police,
departments as ‘‘rotten to the root.’’ from the tragic failure of other cities so therefore, if you don’t vote for the
Again, those are her words. that had slashed the police and seen massive trillions of dollars in spending,
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July 21, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5007
you really want to defund the police. Commission, the OSCE is best known hate in the OSCE region. But we also
Well, unsurprisingly, Psaki couldn’t for its advancements for basic human made sure that we considered the re-
name a single Republican who said rights. cent elections in Belarus and how un-
they wanted to defund the police or So I think of the initiatives that we fair those elections were and how Mr.
who gave defunding the police as a rea- have had in the Helsinki Commission Lukashenko has been acting in a way
son for not voting for Biden’s $1.9 tril- for dealing with trafficking in humans that is so contrary to the human rights
lion, pork-filled spending bill. and the legislation that came out of of the people who live there, and the
The fact of the matter is, Repub- that and how we led the global re- election results there do not reflect the
licans are proud to support the police, sponse to dealing with trafficking. I will of the people.
to stand with the men and women of think about the efforts we made in re- We also had a chance to make sure
blue, while Democrats are demonizing gards to tolerance, dealing with anti- we took up the issues concerning
and vilifying the brave men and women Semitism, racism, and intolerance and Ukraine. Once again, there was a lot of
of law enforcement. how we have made progress throughout controversy on why you should bring
I want to say thank you to every law the entire OSCE region. I think about that up during this meeting. We did.
enforcement officer in this country, on the issues we did in regards to sanc- We supported that to make it clear
the Federal level and on the State and tions against human rights violators so that Russia’s aggression and its occu-
local level. Thank you for answering they cannot use our banking system or pation of Crimea and its interference
the call each day, putting on the uni- visit our country, the Magnitsky-type in eastern Ukraine will never be recog-
form, wearing the badge, and risking sanctions. All of that came out of the nized as legitimate by the United
your life to keep us safe. work of the Helsinki Commission. States or, by that matter, the Par-
This morning, all across this coun- So one of the major arms of our work liamentary Assembly, because we re-
try, law enforcement officers woke up, is the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, sponded in all of those areas.
they kissed their husband or wife good- which is the group of parliamentarians I am pleased to tell you that we sup-
bye, they kissed their kids goodbye, who meet every year and have meet- ported Margareta Cederfelt, who is
and they went out to defend our com- ings throughout the year to exchange going to be the President of the OSCE
munities, and they did so not knowing views and to carry out the principles of Parliamentary Assembly in Sweden,
if they would come home that night. the Helsinki Final Act. and we look forward to her visit here in
We are proud to stand with the men For the last year and a half, we have the United States.
and women of our police departments. been compromised because we haven’t RICHARD HUDSON, Representative
When it comes to facts and fiction, it had an opportunity to meet in person, HUDSON, will be the chair of the first
is a cynical and calculated lie from the and it required us to meet by internet, committee. So we are going to have ac-
Biden White House that it is anybody and we have, but we had a unique op- tive participation in the Parliamen-
other than Democrats who are leading portunity during the last recess period tary Assembly.
the foolhardy charge to abolish and to actually travel and meet with the We had the chance to visit some
defund the police. It is dangerous, parliamentarians. We had an OSCE other countries. But if I might, I think
crime rates are skyrocketing, and it is Parliamentary Assembly annual meet- I am going to yield the floor and give
an exceptionally bad idea. ing in Vienna. And we had a chance to my good friend and the leader of our
I yield the floor. do this in a hybrid manner. So we were congressional delegation trip an oppor-
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. able to travel 12-strong from the U.S. tunity to expand on some of the things
SMITH). The Senator from Maryland. Congress to be at that meeting, and we we were able to do in the OSCE Par-
HELSINKI COMMISSION were joined by five others here in the liamentary Assembly.
Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I United States, including our Presiding With that, I yield the floor.
take this time to talk about the work Officer, to participate in the Par- Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I
of the U.S. Helsinki Commission in a liamentary Assembly, and we were able thank my colleague from Maryland,
recent opportunity we had to partici- to advance a lot of very important who has been such a leader in the area
pate in the OSCE Parliamentary As- issues. of human rights and international rec-
sembly. But I must tell you, we were noticed ognition of the challenges that our
I am joined on the floor by Senator at this meeting. The U.S. presence was world faces today. I do appreciate his
WICKER, who is the Republican chair of critically important in dealing with leadership and his partnership. We
the Helsinki Commission. The two of some very timely issues. I know that have worked shoulder to shoulder on so
us have worked together in a non- Senator WICKER will talk about this. many issues.
partisan, bipartisan manner in regards He is one of the great leaders of the Yes, I proudly rise with him this
to the work of the Helsinki Commis- Parliamentary Assembly. He is Vice afternoon to talk about a very valuable
sion. I just want to spend a few min- President of the Parliamentary Assem- series of meetings that our 12-member
utes, and then I am going to yield the bly. We are very proud of the leader- delegation had in 4 countries in Europe
floor and allow Senator WICKER to give ship position that he holds. in recent days. This was Republicans
his comments. By the way, his election was in Vi- and Democrats from the House and
The OSCE, as the chair is fully aware enna to be the Vice President of the Senate, a truly bipartisan and bi-
as a member of the Commission, rep- Parliamentary Assembly. We had mul- cameral delegation—a very large dele-
resents the U.S. participation in the tiple candidates and several elected to gation—which I think my colleague
Organization for Security and Co-oper- Vice Presidents, but Senator WICKER will agree made a strong statement on
ation in Europe—57 states, which in- led the ballot with the largest number behalf of the United States of America
cludes all of Europe, all of the former of votes, which I think speaks to his and on behalf of the U.S. House and
Republics of the Soviet Union, and well-thought-of respect among the Senate about the way we view Euro-
Canada and the United States. OSCE parliamentarians. pean engagement and our partnership
The Commission works on the prin- We wanted to make sure that this and friendship with the 50-plus member
ciple of three buckets: one for political was a substantive meeting. Quite countries of the OSCE and their Par-
affairs and security, another for eco- frankly, the leadership of the Par- liamentary Assembly.
nomic and environmental progress, and liamentary Assembly said: Let’s just We visited Vienna, Austria, for the
the third on democracy and human get in there and get it over with and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
rights. But it recognizes—and I think not bring up anything controversial. As Senator CARDIN mentioned, we
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this has been the hallmark of the Hel- But that is not the way we operate. We met with great success. Yes, I was re-
sinki Commission—that you can’t have have to take up current issues. elected to the position of vice presi-
advancements on political affairs or se- So we took up the issue of tolerance. dent, and I appreciate the support of
curity or economic or environmental I was happy to sponsor a resolution Democrats and Republicans in the
progress unless you make progress on that ultimately passed by unanimous House and Senate in helping me get
democracy and human rights, that vote that speaks to anti-Semitism, rac- those votes to receive another 3-year
they are interwoven. In the Helsinki ism, intolerance, and the growth of term there.
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