[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 25, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H6932-H6936]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP GRANT ACT OF 2000

  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4033) to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
Act of 1968 to clarify the procedures and conditions for the award of 
matching grants for the purchase of armor vests, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4033

       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 ``Bulletproof Vest Partnership 
     Grant Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) the number of law enforcement officers who are killed 
     in the line of duty would significantly decrease if every law 
     enforcement officer in the United States had the protection 
     of an armor vest;
       (2) according to studies, between 1985 and 1994, 709 law 
     enforcement officers in the United States were feloniously 
     killed in the line of duty;
       (3) the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that the 
     risk of fatality to law enforcement officers while not 
     wearing an armor vest is 14 times higher than for officers 
     wearing an armor vest;
       (4) according to studies, between 1985 and 1994, bullet-
     resistant materials helped save the lives of more than 2,000 
     law enforcement officers in the United States; and
       (5) the Executive Committee for Indian Country Law 
     Enforcement Improvements reports that violent crime in Indian 
     country has risen sharply, despite a decrease in the national 
     crime rate, and has concluded that there is a ``public safety 
     crisis in Indian country''.

     SEC. 3. MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ARMOR 
                   VESTS.

       (a) Matching Funds.--Section 2501(f) (42 U.S.C. 3796ll(f)) 
     of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is 
     amended--
       (1) by striking ``The portion'' and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(1) The portion'';
       (2) by striking ``subsection (a)'' and all that follows 
     through the period at the end of the first sentence and 
     inserting ``subsection (a)--
       ``(A) may not exceed 50 percent; and
       ``(B) shall equal 50 percent, if--
       ``(i) such grant is to a unit of local government with 
     fewer than 100,000 residents;
       ``(ii) the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance 
     determines that the quantity of vests to be purchased with 
     such grant is reasonable; and
       ``(iii) such portion does not cause such grant to violate 
     the requirements of subsection (e).''; and
       (3) by striking ``Any funds'' and inserting the following:
       ``(2) Any funds''.
       (b) Allocation of Funds.--Section 2501(g) (42 U.S.C. 
     3796ll(g)) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 
     of 1968 is amended to read as follows:
       ``(g) Allocation of Funds.--Funds available under this part 
     shall be awarded, without regard to subsection (c), to each 
     qualifying unit of local government with fewer than 100,000 
     residents. Any remaining funds available under this part 
     shall be awarded to other qualifying applicants.''.
       (c) Applications.--Section 2502 (42 U.S.C. 3796ll-1) of the 
     Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended 
     by inserting after subsection (c) the following new 
     subsection:
       ``(d) Applications in Conjunction With Purchases.--If an 
     application under this section is submitted in conjunction 
     with a transaction for the purchase of armor vests, grant 
     amounts under this section may not be used to fund any 
     portion of that purchase unless, before the application is 
     submitted, the applicant--
       ``(1) receives clear and conspicuous notice that receipt of 
     the grant amounts requested in the application is uncertain; 
     and
       ``(2) expressly assumes the obligation to carry out the 
     transaction regardless of whether such amounts are 
     received.''.
       (d) Definition of Armor Vest.--Paragraph (1) of section 
     2503 (42 U.S.C. 3796ll-2) of such Act is amended--
       (1) by striking ``means body armor'' and inserting the 
     following: ``means--
       ``(A) body armor''; and
       (2) by inserting after the semicolon at the end the 
     following: ``or
       ``(B) body armor which has been tested through such 
     voluntary compliance testing program, and found to meet or 
     exceed the requirements of NIJ Standard 0115.00, or any 
     subsequent revision of such standard;''.
       (e) Interim Definition of Armor Vest.--For purposes of part 
     Y of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
     Act of 1968, as amended by this Act, the meaning of the term 
     ``armor vest'' (as defined in section 2503 of such Act (42 
     U.S.C. 37966ll-2)) shall, until the date on which a final NIJ 
     Standard 0115.00 is first fully approved and implemented, 
     also include body armor which has been found to meet or 
     exceed the requirements for protection against stabbing 
     established by the State in which the grantee is located.
       (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 1001(a)(23) 
     of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 
     U.S.C. 3793(a)(23)) is amended by striking the period at the 
     end and inserting the following: ``, and $50,000,000 for each 
     of fiscal years 2002 through 2004.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Chabot) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.  Chabot).


                             General Leave

  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the H.R. 4033, the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman 
from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) be permitted to control my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. LoBIONDO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)

[[Page H6933]]

  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to come before the House 
today in support of H.R. 4033, the Bulletproof Vest Reauthorization Act 
of 2000. This noncontroversial, bipartisan legislation was introduced 
by the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky) and myself in March, and 
it passed out of the full Committee on the Judiciary by voice vote on 
July 7.
  To me, this is a very simple issue and one that I know well. I firmly 
believe that when a police officer is issued a badge and a gun they 
should also be issued a bulletproof vest. When police officers put 
their lives on the line every day protecting our neighborhoods, they 
deserve the highest level of protection and security, which only a 
bulletproof vest can provide.
  When I first introduced the original bulletproof vest bill during the 
105th Congress, I modeled the program after a Vest-a-Cop and Shield-
the-Blue programs established in Southern New Jersey many years ago. 
When I was first elected to Congress, then Sergeant Rich Gray, an 
Atlantic County police officer in Pleasantville came to me telling me 
of a program that they had put together in Atlantic County, New Jersey.
  Sergeant Gray, who is now Chief Rich Gray of the Pleasantville Police 
Department, and a very dedicated group of police officers decided that 
it was time to do something about those who were defending our citizens 
every day who did not have protection. They started a program called 
Vest-a-Cop. That Vest-a-Cop program began to grow in Atlantic County 
and it was really the genesis for the idea that I had and subsequently 
found out that my colleague, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. 
Visclosky), had from his jurisdiction in Indiana.
  At that time, the Vest-a-Cop program was actually raising money in a 
variety of different ways. They were reaching out to the community 
asking people in the community to understand the needs of police 
officers and asking people in the community to contribute. We had 
Scouts who were basically baking cookies and cupcakes and selling them. 
We had events of all different kinds that were providing vests one and 
two and three at a time.
  This program is one that we modeled after that, and we realized that 
doing it piecemeal was not going to really cut it and protect our 
officers for what they needed.
  The current bulletproof vest partnership program has enabled police 
jurisdictions across the Nation to purchase over 180,000 bulletproof 
vests over the last 2 years, 180,000 vests that probably would not have 
been purchased otherwise. However, due to the tremendous popularity of 
the program, and actually the program became much more popular than we 
ever anticipated, we were not able to meet all of the demands. None of 
the jurisdictions received the full 50/50 Federal-State match this 
year; and, in fact, the Department of Justice reported that 
jurisdictions with under 100,000 residents received a 
disproportionately low share of Federal funds. An average of only 22 
cents on the dollar came from the Federal Government.
  Mr. Speaker, that is not what we in this House originally intended, 
and this legislation helps correct that.
  The bill before us today will extend and improve the current 
bulletproof vest program. First, the annual authorization will be 
doubled from $25 million to $50 million per year through the year 2004, 
extending the program for 3 more years. That is critical to enable all 
the officers across the Nation to be able to take advantage of this 
program which saves lives.
  Second, language was included in the bill which will guarantee that 
smaller jurisdictions receive a fair portion of the funding.
  Finally, those jurisdictions and corrections officers who have been 
waiting for the national stab-proof standard to be approved by the 
Department of Justice will be able to purchase state-approved 
bulletproof and stab-proof vests under this standard. That is a very 
big improvement from where we were on the last go-around.

  The stab-proof issue is of particular interest to me because it hits 
very close to home. Corrections Officer Fred Baker in my district in 
New Jersey was stabbed to death while on duty at Bayside State Prison. 
Officer Baker was not wearing a vest at the time. We can only speculate 
as to whether his life would have been spared had he had the 
opportunity to wear a vest, but many of us believe had he had that 
opportunity that Officer Baker would be alive today.
  If Officer Baker had the chance, I am sure he would not have 
hesitated to put that vest on.
  It is critical that Members vote in favor of this legislation. 
According to the FBI, an average of over 100 officers are assaulted 
every day and in 1999, 139 officers were slain while in the line of 
duty. There are still thousands of officers on duty who do not have 
access to these life-saving vests. This is an opportunity for us as 
Members of Congress, who talk so very often about the importance of law 
enforcement to us, who talk about what we want to do to provide law 
enforcement the opportunity to help protect themselves as they keep our 
citizens safe, this is our opportunity to do something.
  This common sense bill has gained the support of 264 bipartisan 
cosponsors, as well as major law enforcement organizations across this 
Nation. I would like to commend all of those who were involved in 
bringing this bill to the floor today.
  I would first like to thank the majority leader, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Armey), who put up with my pleas and pestering for so very 
long about the importance of this bill; the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Hyde); and the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. McCollum).
  I would also like to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Scott), for his help in this effort. The gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Scott) was influential on the Committee on the Judiciary as we 
were moving this bill through; and saving for last, my colleague, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky).
  The gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky) and I have worked on this 
bill from the very beginning. This is probably a great example of a 
partnership to be developed to move legislation that is meaningful and 
can do something in a very positive way and save lives. That is the 
bottom line here.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. First, I want to commend 
my colleague, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), and the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) for their hard work and 
dedication in bringing this bill forward. I also want to thank the 
chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
McCollum), and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) and their staffs 
for their cooperative and bipartisan spirit in developing this bill and 
moving it expeditiously along the way.
  The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act will reauthorize and 
double the funding for this lifesaving program. I can think of no 
better way to show our gratitude and respect for the brave men and 
women who put their lives on the line every day to serve and protect 
the citizens of this country than to fully fund a program which may 
well save their lives and protect them from grave harm.
  Regrettably, as has already been mentioned, we have had more requests 
for funding than we have had funding, and this bill will allow us to 
meet those requests. With a proven track record of having saved 
thousands of lives since their inception, we should not only ensure 
that all officers subject to harm from gunfire have access to 
bulletproof vests but also all officers subject to stab wounds, such as 
correctional officers, are provided with vests that can save their 
lives. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I supported the amendment of the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum) at the subcommittee markup to 
allow funding for stab-proof vests as well as bulletproof vests.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  2115

  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. McInnis).
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for

[[Page H6934]]

yielding me this time. I also thank, in fact, all the people that have 
put forth effort in this.
  Mr. Speaker, I used to be a police officer; and I can tell my 
colleagues something. On the street, the cheapest life insurance policy 
an officer can get is a bulletproof vest. It does not give 100 percent 
protection. They can still take a head shot or a shot in an artery in 
the leg. But it guarantees a lot better odds than they have without it.
  I remember the days when I was cop on the street unit and the vests 
we put on; it is like it was yesterday. It was like putting on a bucket 
filled with concrete. They were miserable. When the officer bent, they 
would not bend so it looks like they twisted their neck as they tried 
to go around. The cops did not like to wear them. The other problem was 
that when they were on the force for a while, like several of my 
colleagues, bless their hearts, they never thought it would happen to 
them. They just read the stories. We were in small communities.
  The third problem we had, which the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
LoBiondo) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) recognized, was 
the fact that in small communities we did not necessarily have the 
resources. I remember going to the big cities, how much we admired the 
equipment that they had. I mean, I am not that old, but this does show 
my age. We still had a fire truck that we winded on the front. We had 
to crank it. So bulletproof vests, that really meant something to us.
  Mr. Speaker, I think this is an excellent bill. And clearly the 
technology has advanced. I had an opportunity not long ago, in fact, 
one of our surgeons at the hospital, one of our military surgeons who 
recently retired, his hobby was research on bulletproof vests. Believe 
it or not, they would take cadavers and take vests and try different 
things. The advancement that we have seen in technology could just 
mandate that these be put on every officer out there.
  Mr. Speaker, I know the statistics. The statistics of over 2,000 
officers saved. I will tell my colleagues what else it does. It not 
only has saved 2,000 lives, but it gives a lot of officers some 
confidence to go into situations that they would not otherwise have. 
Now, it is true that it may give some overconfidence, but the fact is 
there are a lot of situations where officers feel they are outgunned. 
But having the right kind of equipment, they can go in there quick.
  As a police officer, they often find themselves in a situation. They 
were not paid to sit on the street and watch what was happening; they 
were paid to get in the way of danger and go in and stop it. They can 
go in with more boldness when they have the protection that this bill 
offers.
  This is an excellent bill. And the way a bill should be measured, and 
obviously it sounds great, but there really must be accountability on a 
bill. When we measure the accountability of this bill, we see the 
dollars we spend out and what we are getting in return. Clearly, the 
return that we have gotten is such that it easily justifies the 
additional appropriation and the additional authorization that this 
bill asks for.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend both of the gentlemen for their efforts in 
this regard. And I can tell these gentlemen that they will never get a 
thanks, because people will not think of them. But there will be many 
families in the future that will thank them for the saving of a life of 
their loved one.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), the original cosponsor of the 
legislation who has done so much work to bring this bill forward.
  (Mr. VISCLOSKY asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Scott) yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4033, the Bulletproof 
Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000. I would like to recognize the over 
260 of my colleagues who have joined as cosponsors of this bipartisan 
legislation designed to save the lives of police officers. Foremost 
among them, I would want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
LoBiondo) who has proven that he is an indispensable leader on this 
vital issue and that his commitment to police officers is absolute.
  I would also express my appreciation to the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. McCollum), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, as well as 
the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), the ranking Democrat, who have 
lent their powerful voices to this important cause and who have been 
indispensable and tireless in ensuring that this legislation is brought 
to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, after me, the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Wise), 
will also speak and I will recognize his tireless efforts as well to 
secure many of the cosponsors of this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, studies show that between 1980 and 1996, there were over 
2,182 felonous deaths of police officers due to firearms and that of 
those deaths, 924 of the officers were not wearing bulletproof vests. 
The Federal Bureau of Investigations has estimated that the risk of 
fatality from a firearm for officers not wearing body armor is 14 times 
higher than those wearing the armor. The gentleman from Colorado 
alluded to the 2,500 police officers whose lives have been saved from 
gunfire since its introduction in the mid-1970s.
  But despite these statistics, tens of thousands of law enforcement 
officers do not even have access to a vest. In order to alleviate this 
problem, in 1997, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) and I 
introduced the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act. This law 
provided a program which authorized $25 million per year to pay up to 
50 percent of the costs of bulletproof vests for local and State law 
enforcement agencies.
  In order to ensure that smaller jurisdictions received a fair share 
of the funds, the money was to be distributed evenly with half going to 
jurisdictions under 100,000 residents and half going to larger 
jurisdictions. In each of the first 2 years of this program, the 
Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act has provided over 3,000 law 
enforcement agencies with funding to purchase over 90,000 bulletproof 
vests and body armor.
  Mr. Speaker, I would point out that we are talking about 
reauthorizing legislation today, but I would also want to add my 
``thank you's'' to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers) who chairs 
the subcommittee, as well as the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), 
who is the ranking Democratic member, for ensuring that in each of the 
first 2 years of this Act the full appropriation was granted.
  However, in the most recent year of the program, funding was 
insufficient to provide any law enforcement agency with the full 
matching grant requested under the program. And, in fact, the average 
grant award represented only 30 percent of the cost of the vest, a 20 
percent shortfall on the Federal side. For many smaller agencies, the 
shortfall is devastating and could end up taking away funding from 
other important departmental programs.
  Mr. Speaker, we must honor our commitment to provide these agencies 
with the full 50 percent of the cost of these vests, and in order to do 
so H.R. 4033 doubles the yearly authorization for the program to $50 
million. The original authorization of this program also included a 
provision to allow the purchase of stabproof vests for corrections 
officers and sheriff's deputies who regularly face violent criminals at 
close quarters in our Nation's jails.
  Unfortunately, the Department of Justice decided that requests for 
funding for stabproof vests under the program were not valid until a 
national standard was developed for such vests by the National 
Institutes of Justice. After 2 years of development, NIJ continues to 
delay the implementation of such a standard. In order to address this 
issue, we supported an amendment to this bill offered by the gentleman 
from Florida (Chairman McCollum) during subcommittee consideration 
which will allow States to develop their own stabproof vest standards 
until the NIJ makes good on their promise.
  And, finally, this bill would take extra precautions to ensure that 
those small agencies which are often most in need of additional funding 
for vests would receive the entire grant for which they apply. The 
program has fallen short of giving many of these agencies a full grant 
and, therefore, H.R. 4033 includes a provision which ensures that 
smaller jurisdictions, again

[[Page H6935]]

those under 100,000 residents, will receive all of the funding they 
request before money is allocated to larger jurisdictions.
  Mr. Speaker, in this age of cross-country drug and illegal firearms 
trafficking, even rural and small town police officers increasingly 
find themselves faced with dangerous, well-armed criminals. We must 
protect the Crown Point, Indiana, police officer who unknowingly pulls 
over an armed drug dealer on Highway 231 as much as the New York City 
police officer involved in an orchestrated drug raid.
  Our legislation is intended to reauthorize a highly successful 
program in order to make sure that every police and corrections officer 
who needs a bulletproof vest gets one. It was clear to us that every 
officer on the street should have a vest and that the need to supply 
officers with vests is important enough to warrant direct Federal 
assistance.
  Mr. Speaker, at the heart of this effort is our desire to save the 
lives of police officers. When we make this commitment we offer 
protection, not just to the officers but to every community in America, 
we prevent the suffering of families of fallen officers, we prevent the 
loss of leaders in our community. Perhaps most importantly, we give 
those who protect us the ability to do their job better, more 
confidently, and with the knowledge that their entire Nation is behind 
them every day, even in the most dangerous of situations.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, could the Chair advise how much time we have 
remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Tancredo). The gentleman from Virginia 
controls 12\1/2\ minutes.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Wise).
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Scott) for yielding me this time, and I particularly thank the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) and the gentleman from Indiana 
(Mr. Visclosky) for their work in getting this bill to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, it was not that many years ago in West Virginia that I 
heard the story at Christmastime of a young wife who was using her 
Christmas savings to buy a bulletproof vest for her law enforcement 
husband. That just shocked me, to be honest, that when they got the 
badge and they got the gun and they got the uniform, they did not get 
the vest.
  So that began to open a lot of our eyes, I think. Then when I began 
looking around and I was watching families and churches and FOP lodges 
and others holding bake sales to buy bulletproof vests. No one should 
have to hold a bake sale to protect their life or protect the life of 
their loved one, and particularly when we ask that loved one to take 
extraordinary steps for society.
  This Congress took some steps in the early 1990s with an amendment 
that I offered on the DOD bill that permitted for the first time police 
departments to buy equipment at the lowest possible discount price, but 
yet they still had to pay the full amount, even though it was the 
lowest price, because they were buying in volume.
  This legislation took a much more important step to say that there 
would be a grant to assist local governments and municipalities in the 
cost of procuring that bulletproof vest. This legislation tonight now 
continues that process.
  It is estimated that 2,000 police officers in the past 10 years have 
been saved by having bulletproof vests. That alone demonstrates how 
important this is. And, of course, this legislation takes important 
steps because it includes correctional officers, a very, very dangerous 
profession as well.
  I am very grateful that this legislation is moving. It is getting 
dark outside and somewhere tonight in West Virginia, as is true in 
every State across the country, somewhere tonight a State trooper is 
going to walk up on a strange car on a lonely rural highway and he or 
she is not going to know what is in that car or what may be coming at 
them from behind that car door. Somewhere tonight a deputy sheriff is 
going to answer a domestic violence call and will not know whether 
there is a shotgun waiting behind that front door. And somewhere 
tonight a municipal officer is likely to be preparing for a drug raid. 
Once again, when they go down that alley, they do not know what is 
coming at them. This protects them much more than they had before.
  So as we ask them to go out and to answer our call, so it is that we 
should answer their call. I thank those who have made it possible to 
bring this legislation to the floor and to protect the men and women 
who serve us so well in our law enforcement community.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), a member of the Committee on 
the Judiciary.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Scott) very much for yielding me this time, and I thank 
the authors of this legislation. My compliments on saving lives.
  Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Houston City Council, one of the 
issues we were concerned with was law enforcement and the protection of 
our officers and the protection of our community. This legislation 
helps to partnership with local communities, rural and urban centers, 
small towns and villages where they cannot afford to have the resources 
for these bulletproof vests.
  These vests save lives and they secure our law enforcement officers 
as they work to secure us. This is a strike for a positive response to 
the needs of our law enforcement. It is good legislation. It is a good 
Federal-local partnership, and I would ask my colleagues to support 
this effort to save the lives of our law enforcement officers.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for allowing time for discussion on this 
important subject matter, for few issues will command more attention 
than that of providing for the safety of our Nation's law enforcement 
officers.
  Everyday a many law enforcement officers leave their homes--leaving 
behind their parents, children, wives and siblings--to faithfully 
uphold and enforce the laws of America. Every time they leave home 
there is a void, a void of certainty as to whether the faithful officer 
will return. When that officer hugs and kisses his or her family before 
leaving for work, they often ask themselves whether this is the last 
hug, the last kiss or the last time they will say to their children--
Have a good day at school!
  When our officers leave for work, their families anxiously await 
their return; asking each time the phone rings--is this that dreaded 
call! Yet, our officers devotedly show up for work everyday, not just 
for the protection of their own families but for the protection of 
everyone who depend on them--all of America!
  We have the opportunity to say to our local protectors, that we are 
just as concerned with their safety as they are concerned with our 
safety and the safety of our friends and our families. We have the 
opportunity to make available a device that has been found to reduce 
the likelihood of death by a firearm of one of our officers by 14 
times.
  The bulletproof vest is credited for saving the lives of over 2,000 
police officers since it was introduced in 1970. It is a small piece of 
equipment. However, the benefits of its use are too large to be 
measured. We will never be able to measure the value of a police 
officer's life or the joy the officer's family feels when he or she 
returns home from a job which involves the ultimate risk--the risk of 
dying. Furthermore, we must be aware that we will never be able to 
measure the value of the comfort we'll feel under the blanket of 
protection that our police officers provide.
  By supporting this increase in funding for the Bulletproof Vest Grant 
Program, we will send a message to those brave men and women and their 
families that Congress and our Nation support and recognize the hard 
work and danger they endure to guarantee the safety of all of America's 
people. We all know that the support of others makes any job completed 
or any goal achieved more rewarding. What amount of support could be 
greater than the support of a Nation such as ours?
  As the technology of the world advances daily, we must ensure that 
these advancements are available to our Nation's peace officers. 
America's police officers must have access to the best safety equipment 
to combat the improved, sophisticated weapons of the crime world.
  Three-thousand-five-hundred-and-eleven jurisdictions applied for the 
Bulletproof Grant. Two-thousand-six-hundred-and-sixty-eight of these 
jurisdictions received the 50-50 matching grant they expected. The 
increased funding provided by H.R. 4033 will not only ensure that the 
other 843 jurisdictions that applied for the grant in the past will 
receive the 50-50 matching funds they expected, H.R. 4033 will also 
make available funding for additional

[[Page H6936]]

grants for other jurisdictions. Thus, more of our police officers will 
be protected while providing our communities with security.
  This bill provides that each qualifying jurisdiction that serves 
under 100,000 residents will receive a full 50-50 matching grant for 
body armor purchases. This provision ensures that police officers in 
our small towns and rural areas that operate under limited budgets are 
provided the same level of protection available to officers in our 
larger cities who have larger budgets to purchase safety equipment.
  Our officers that patrol our neighborhoods are not the only ones who 
will receive additional safety equipment. H.R. 4033 provides money to 
purchase body armor for our correction officers who work in the closed 
sectors of our county and state jails.
  So, as we enjoy the protection provided by our police officers, let 
us remember that we have a duty to make their jobs as safe for them as 
possible. I ask that all my colleagues support H.R. 4033, the 
Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I thank those who have worked so hard on this 
bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time.
  Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank my colleagues, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Scott) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), 
all of those on the Committee on the Judiciary, and all of my 
colleagues who cosponsored this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, many times in this House when there are good ideas that 
come before us, we do not get a chance to act on them. I think, to 
reiterate what I mentioned earlier, this is a great example of a 
positive partnership. These are ideas that generated within our 
districts from citizens and police officers and law enforcement 
officers and corrections officers who were in the real world every day, 
as we heard our other colleagues talk about.

                              {time}  2130

  Instead of having to have local community groups raise money a little 
bit at a time, the officers in New Jersey in the second district, 
officers like Dominic Romeo in Cape May County, in the City of 
Wildwood, Sergeant Rich Gray, Shield-the-Blue, the corrections officers 
PBA-105, all those who are associated with the Vest-a-Cop program can 
look to us here in Washington and realize that we have joined together 
in a very special way, in a very bipartisan way, to generate 
legislation that means a great deal to law enforcement across this 
Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all the Members of this body to vote for this 
legislation and show their commitment to law enforcement officers by 
voting for H.R. 4033.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 4033, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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