[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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