[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 101 (Wednesday, June 18, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H5544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REAUTHORIZATION OF THE COPS PROGRAM

  (Mr. WEINER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, the time has come for the United States 
Senate to free the COPS program. We here in this body, by an 
overwhelming bipartisan majority, voted to reauthorize the single 
greatest legislative weapon frankly ever passed by Congress to help 
reduce crime.
  It reauthorized the highly successful COPS program, authorizing the 
hiring of another 50,000 new cops, authorizing hiring of special 
terrorism cops for cities like New York that have cops that specialize 
simply in combating terrorism.
  Now, that same bill is held hostage in the Senate, frankly, by my 
Republican colleagues. The time has come for us to realize that if 
there has been one program that has been democratic, with a small D, 
meaning it's had beneficial effects all throughout the country, it's 
been the COPS program. Whether it's a small sheriff's department or a 
large police department like New York City, the program has been a 
success.
  We should keep on pushing. There are a lot of things we disagree on, 
but frankly, this should be one that unifies us. This will give us a 
chance to modernize this program, get some money into the pipeline in 
States and localities so that they can go ahead and hire more police 
officers and continue the successes we have had reducing crime.

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