[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 104 (Friday, September 8, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8266-S8267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP GRANT ACT OF 2000

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I again ask why the Bulletproof Vest 
Partnership Grant Act of 2000 is being held up. Senator Campbell and I, 
and others, both Republicans and Democrats, introduced this bulletproof 
vest bill to help our police officers. We introduced it last April. It 
was stuck in the Judiciary Committee for a time despite my requests 
that it be brought forth. It finally was allowed on the agenda and was 
passed out of there unanimously in June.
  I find it hard to think that anybody who would be opposed to using 
some of our Federal crime-fighting money for bulletproof vests for our 
police officers. In fact, most Senators with whom I have talked, 
Republican and Democrat, tell me they are very much in favor of it. 
They saw how this worked in its first 2 years of operation. The 
Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program under the original Campbell-
Leahy bill funded more than 180,000 new bulletproof vests for police 
officers across the Nation.
  We have a bill, though, that has been stalled, unfortunately, by an 
anonymous hold on the Republican side. This is a bipartisan bill that 
is being held up in a partisan fashion.
  I am continually being asked by police officers who know how well the 
original Campbell-Leahy bill worked on bulletproof vests why we cannot 
pass this continuation of it. It is strongly supported by police 
officers all over the country. The President has made it very clear he 
would sign such a bill into law, as he did the last one. It is 
something that, if it were brought to a rollcall vote in the Senate, I 
am willing to guess 98, maybe all 100 Senators, would vote for it. 
Certainly no fewer than 95 Senators would vote for it.
  When we could not pass it by unanimous consent before our summer 
recess because there was a hold, I wanted to make sure I could tell 
these police officers that there was no hold on this side. We actually 
checked with all 46 Democratic Senators. All 46 told us they would 
support it. All 46 said they would consent to having it passed anytime 
we want to bring it up by a voice vote.
  I have told these police officers that while a significant number of 
both Republicans and Democrats support it or have cosponsored it, and 
while every single Democrat has said they support having it passed 
today, there is an anonymous hold on the Republican side. I hope that 
hold will go away. I urge these same police departments that have 
contacted me to contact the Republican leadership and say: Please ask 
whoever your anonymous Senator is to take the hold away and let the 
Campbell-Leahy bill pass.
  That it has still not passed the full Senate is very disappointing to 
me, as I am sure that it is to our nation's law enforcement officers, 
who need life-saving bulletproof vests to protect themselves. 
Protecting and supporting our law enforcement community should not be a 
partisan issue.
  Senator Campbell and I worked together closely and successfully in 
the last Congress to pass the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 
1998 into law. This year's bill reauthorizes and extends the successful 
program that we helped create and that the Department of Justice has 
done such a good job implementing.
  We have 19 cosponsors on the new bill, including a number of 
Democrats and some Republicans. This is a bipartisan bill that is not 
being treated in a bipartisan way. For some unknown reason a Republican 
Senator has a hold on this bill and has chosen to exercise that right 
anonymously.
  According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more than 40 
percent of the 1,182 officers killed by a firearm in the line of duty 
since 1980 could have been saved if they had been wearing body armor. 
Indeed, the FBI estimates that the risk of fatality to officers while 
not wearing body armor is 14 times higher than for officers wearing it.
  To better protect our Nation's law enforcement officers, Senator 
Campbell and I introduced the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 
1998. President Clinton signed our legislation into law on June 16, 
1998. Our law created a $25 million, 50 percent matching grant program 
within the Department of Justice to help state and local law 
enforcement agencies purchase body armor for fiscal years 1999-2001.
  In its first two years of operation, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership 
Grant Program has funded more than 180,000 new bulletproof vests for 
police officers across the country.
  The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000 builds on the 
success of this program by doubling its annual funding to $50 million 
for fiscal years 2002-2004. It also improves the program by 
guaranteeing jurisdictions with fewer than 100,000 residents receive 
the full 50-50 matching funds because of the tight budgets of these 
smaller communities and by making the purchase of stab-proof vests 
eligible for grant

[[Page S8267]]

awards to protect corrections officers in close quarters in local and 
county jails.
  More than ever before, police officers in Vermont and around the 
country face deadly threats that can strike at any time, even during 
routine traffic stops. Bulletproof vests save lives. It is essential 
the we update this law so that many more of our officers who are 
risking their lives everyday are able to protect themselves.
  I hope that the mysterious ``hold'' on the bill from the other side 
of the aisle will disappear. The Senate should pass without delay the 
Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000 and send it to the 
President for his signature.
  Before we recessed last July, I informed the Republican leadership 
that the House of Representatives had passed the companion bill, H.R. 
4033, by an overwhelming vote of 413-3. I expressed my hope that the 
Senate would quickly follow suit and pass the House-passed bill and 
send it to the President. President Clinton has already endorsed this 
legislation to support our Nation's law enforcement officers and is 
eager to sign it into law.
  Several more weeks have come and gone. Unfortunately, nothing has 
changed. Not knowing what the misunderstanding of our bill is, I find 
it is impossible to overcome an anonymous, unstated objection. I, 
again, ask whoever it is on the Republican side who has a concern about 
this program to please come talk to me and Senator Campbell. I hope the 
Senate will do the right thing and pass this important legislation 
without further unnecessary delay.

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