[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2030 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2030

      To bring the FBI to full strength to carry out its mission.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 17, 2005

   Mr. Biden introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To bring the FBI to full strength to carry out its mission.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Full-strength Bureau Initiative Act 
of 2005'' or the ``FBI Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Throughout its history, the FBI has been an integral 
        part of anti-crime investigatory efforts in the United States.
            (2) While the FBI has increased its overall FBI field agent 
        numbers by more than 1,000 since pre-9/11 levels, it has 
        increased its counter-terror agents by more than 2,000. While 
        this staffing-up of increased resources for counter-terror 
        investigations is necessary and proper, it has had the 
        unintended consequence of precluding the FBI from adequately 
        and satisfactorily discharging its traditional anti-crime 
        investigatory efforts.
            (3) The FBI's shift to counterterrorism has reduced the 
        Bureau's involvement in traditional crime investigations, 
        including--
                    (A) fewer agents to the successful High Intensity 
                Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task forces;
                    (B) fewer violent crime cases, as the Bureau has 
                reduced the number of agents committed to Federal-
                State-local task forces like ``Safe Streets'' and 
                Violent Crime Task Forces; and
                    (C) fewer agents handling bank robbery and white 
                collar crimes, which involve technical areas of 
                investigative expertise that State and locals often 
                lack.
            (4) Before September 11, 2001, the FBI had 7,738 field 
        agents fulfilling traditional anti-crime efforts. The President 
        has proposed a fiscal year 2006 budget with less than 6,700 
        field agents fulfilling these same functions.
            (5) The FBI is thus faced with a gap of 1,000 field agents 
        in its traditional anti-crime function, compromising the 
        investigations the FBI is able to undertake and to assist in.
            (6) The FBI's traditional anti-crime investigations 
        complement and assist investigations by State and local law 
        enforcement around the country.
            (7) Through direct assistance and various joint task 
        forces, the FBI provides invaluable expertise and resources to 
        help State and local law enforcement agencies combat criminal 
        enterprises impacting their local communities.
            (8) The post 9-11 reprogramming of FBI agents from criminal 
        to counterterrorism investigations is occurring at the many 
        State and local agencies that are facing tough budget cuts that 
        is reducing their capacity to fight crime.
            (9) In a recent survey, 27 of 44 major urban police 
        departments surveyed are experiencing a ``cop crunch''. 
        Cleveland, Ohio, has lost 250 officers in 2004, 15 percent of 
        its force. New York City has lost 3,400 over the last three 
        years. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has lost \1/4\ of its force, 
        and Philadelphia has lost 2,000 officers.
            (10) Compounding the lack of local revenue many local 
        jurisdictions are faced with since 9-11, Federal financial 
        assistance to local law enforcement has been reduced every year 
        for the past 4 years.
            (11) The FBI is charged with preventing terrorism and 
        fighting traditional crime. In order for the FBI to attain both 
        critical goals, the FBI needs an additional 1,000 agents to do 
        the job.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR MORE AGENTS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated $160,000,000 for each of 
the fiscal years 2006 through 2010 to fund 1,000 Federal Bureau of 
Investigations field agents in addition to the number of Federal Bureau 
of Investigations field agents serving on the date of enactment of this 
Act.
                                 <all>