[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 115 (Monday, July 14, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H6445-H6446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EDWARD BYRNE MEMORIAL JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate bill (S. 231) to authorize the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice 
Assistance Grant Program at fiscal year 2006 levels through 2012.
  The Clerk read the title of the Senate bill.
  The text of the Senate bill is as follows:

                                 S. 231

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

     SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION OF GRANTS.

       Section 508 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
     Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3758) is amended by 
     striking ``for fiscal year 2006'' through the period and 
     inserting ``for each of the fiscal years 2006 through 
     2012.''.

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


                             General Leave

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  The Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, or Byrne/JAG Program, is 
named after Edward Byrne, a New York City police officer killed by a 
violent drug gang 20 years ago.
  The Byrne/JAG Program is the only source of Federal funding for 
multi-jurisdictional efforts to prevent and fight crime. The funding is 
used by States and local governments to support a broad range of 
activities to prevent and control crime and to improve the criminal 
justice system.
  Specific uses include law enforcement, prosecution, and court 
programs; crime prevention and education programs; community-based 
programs; drug treatment, planning, and evaluation efforts; and crime 
victim and witness programs.
  Simply put, this program enables States to employ all aspects of 
fighting crime, rather than simply using the so-called ``get tough'' 
approach limited to making more arrests and making sentences longer.
  Nationwide, the program has resulted in major innovations in crime 
control, including drug courts, gang prevention strategies, and 
prisoner reentry programs, all of which provide proven and highly 
effective crime prevention.
  In turn, these innovations demonstrate that the best crime policy 
incorporates programs that help at-risk youth avoid criminal behavior 
and that prepare prisoners for reentry into society so they have 
meaningful and productive alternatives to crime when they return home.
  S. 231 would simply reauthorize the Byrne/JAG Program at its current 
funding level, which is $1.095 billion, through 2012. The House passed 
substantially identical legislation by voice vote last month. Passing 
the Senate version will enable us to send this important bill to the 
President.
  I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of S. 231, a bill to reauthorize the Edward Byrne 
Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program through fiscal year 2012.
  This bill continues to fund the Department of Justice Byrne/JAG Grant 
Program at the fiscal year 2006 level. The House passed companion 
legislation, H.R. 3546, just a few weeks ago.
  The Byrne/JAG Program provides assistance to State and local law 
enforcement officials. These grants support a wide range of law 
enforcement activities to prevent and control crime and improve the 
criminal justice system. Byrne/JAG grants may be used to help pay for 
personnel, overtime, or equipment. Funds are also used for statewide 
initiatives, technical assistance, and training.
  In June the FBI released its 2007 Unified Crime Report detailing the 
statistics for violent crime nationwide. The rate for violent crimes, 
including robbery, sexual assault, and murder, decreased nationally. 
However, the report also showed that the rate of violent crime 
increased in some communities across the country.
  Our Nation's law enforcement officials are dedicated to preventing 
crime and keeping our communities safe, and their efforts should be 
applauded. Congress plays an important role in supporting State and 
local law enforcement officials by continuing to reauthorize programs 
like this at appropriate levels.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of 
reauthorization of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant 
program. As a cosponsor of the House version of this bill, I am pleased 
that this legislation will reauthorize a program that is vital not only 
to my District, but to Iowa, and States across the country.
  Byrne JAG is one of our country's most effective law enforcement 
tools. It is the only source of federal funding for multi-
jurisdictional efforts to prevent, fight, and prosecute drug-related 
and violent crime. The program funds drug treatment; keeps our 
communities safe by increasing the number of officers on the street; 
and gives local law enforcement officers the tools they need to shut 
down the production and distribution of illegal drugs.
  With the help of Byrne JAG funding, State and local law enforcement 
officers across the country have made tremendous strides in combating 
illegal drugs. A recent study found that Byrne JAG funded programs have 
led to 220,000 arrests, the seizure of 54,000 weapons; the destruction 
of 5.5 million grams of methamphetamine, and the elimination of almost 
9,000 methamphetamine labs.
  In Iowa, reported methamphetamine labs have dropped 90 percent since 
their peak in 2004. Meanwhile, meth treatment admissions have increased 
and Iowa now has the third highest rate of meth treatment in the 
country. Child abuse due to meth labs is in decline, and three recent 
Iowa Youth Surveys have shown steady decline in substance use among 
6th, 8th, and 11th grade students.
  What these statistics make clear is that Byrne JAG is proven, 
effective, and critical to public safety. This reauthorization lays the 
groundwork for robust funding for Byrne JAG through 2012, and I urge my 
colleagues to not only support adoption of the bill but to also support 
full funding for the program in this and coming years.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 
231 to reauthorize the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, 
Byrne-JAG, Program at fiscal year 2006 levels through 2012. The Byrne-
JAG monies are supposed to be used to make America a safer place. I 
support the reauthorization, and I would urge my colleagues to do 
likewise.


                       Why Byrne-JAG is Necessary

  Byrne-JAG allows States and local governments to support a broad 
range of activities to prevent and control crime and to improve the 
criminal justice system, which States and local governments have come 
to rely on to ensure public safety. They support: law enforcement, 
prosecution and court programs, prevention and education, corrections 
and community programs, drug treatment, planning, evaluation, 
technology improvement programs, and crime victim and witness programs, 
other than compensation. In short, they are an indispensable resource 
that States use to combat crime.


                    Recent Cuts in Byrne JAG Funding

  Unfortunately, in fiscal year 2008 the Byrne-JAG program was cut by 
two-thirds. Although Congress authorized over $1 billion, only $520 
million were appropriated for fiscal year 2007. The appropriation was 
then drastically reduced to $170.4 million in fiscal year 2008, and the 
President has proposed further cuts for the fiscal year 2009 budget.


                      Past Problems with Byrne JAG

  The trend to reduce the grant funding may result, in part, from 
instances where Byrne-JAG funding has been abused. For example, in 1999 
Byrne-JAG funding was used in the infamous Tulia outrage in which a 
rogue police narcotics officer in Texas set up dozens of people, most 
of them African-American, in false cocaine trafficking charges. In 
other instances, jurisdictions used the funding to fund task forces 
focused solely on ineffective, low-level drug arrests, which has put 
the task force concept-and the diminished standards of drug enforcement 
that it has come to represent--in the national spotlight.

[[Page H6446]]

  The most well-known Byrne-funded scandal occurred in Tulia, Texas 
where dozens of African-American residents, representing 16 percent of 
the town's black population, were arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to 
decades in prison, even though the only evidence against them was the 
uncorroborated testimony of one white undercover officer with a history 
of lying and racism. The undercover officer worked alone, and had no 
audiotapes, video surveillance, or eyewitnesses to collaborate his 
allegations. Suspicions eventually arose after two of the accused 
defendants were able to produce firm evidence showing they were out-of-
State or at work at the time of the alleged drug buys. Texas Governor 
Rick Perry eventually pardoned the Tulia defendants, after four years 
of imprisonment, but these kinds of scandals continue to plague the 
Byrne grant program.

  These scandals are not the result of a few ``bad apples'' in law 
enforcement; they are the result of a fundamentally flawed bureaucracy 
that is prone to corruption by its very structure. Byrne-funded 
regional anti-drug task forces are Federally funded, State managed, and 
locally staffed, which means they do not really have to answer to 
anyone. In fact, their ability to perpetuate themselves through asset 
forfeiture and Federal funding makes them unaccountable to local 
taxpayers and governing bodies.
  The scandals are more widespread than just a few instances. A 2002 
report by the ACLU of Texas identified 17 scandals involving Byrne-
funded anti-drug task forces in Texas, including cases of falsifying 
government records, witness tampering, fabricating evidence, stealing 
drugs from evidence lockers, selling drugs to children, large-scale 
racial profiling, sexual harassment, and other abuses of official 
capacity.
  Texas is not the only State that has suffered from Byrne-funded law 
enforcement scandals. Scandals in other States have included the misuse 
of millions of dollars in Federal grant money in Kentucky and 
Massachusetts, false convictions based upon police perjury in Missouri, 
and making deals with drug offenders to drop or lower their charges in 
exchange for money or vehicles in Alabama, Arkansas, Massachusetts, New 
York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. A 2001 study by the Government 
Accountability Office found that the Federal Government fails to 
adequately monitor the grant program and hold grantees accountable.


                  Amendment Considered But Not Offered

  Because of these abuses, I would have offered an amendment when this 
bill was considered at the Full Judiciary Committee markup. My 
amendment would have addressed the responsible use of Byrne-JAG monies. 
Specifically, my amendment would have required that a State that 
receives Byrne-JAG money should collect data for the most recent year 
for which such funds were allocated to such State, with respect to:
  (1) The racial distribution of criminal charges made during that 
year;
  (2) the nature of the criminal law specified in the charges made; and
  (3) the city of law enforcement jurisdiction in which the charges 
were made.
  My amendment would have required a condition of receiving funds that 
the State should submit to the Attorney General the data collected by 
not later than one year after the date the State received funds. 
Lastly, the report should be posted on the Bureau of Justice Statistics 
website and submitted to the Attorney General.
  My amendment is good because arrests will be transparent and the 
light of day and public airing of any problems will be the greatest 
disinfectant. My amendment is an attempt to make law enforcement more 
responsible, more accountable, and more just in their dealings with 
persons of all races and backgrounds. My amendment is but a small price 
to pay to rid the Nation of scandals and disasters that occurred in 
Tulia, Texas and elsewhere.
  My amendment, which I would have offered, would provide oversight and 
accountability. It is not burdensome. It will not prevent the States 
from collecting and funding programs under the Byrne Grant program. My 
amendment does, however, shed light on any maladies that might exist in 
the system. Once we see the problems, we can fix them. My amendment is 
responsible and aims to make the Byrne-Grant program a better program 
by ensuring that the funding is used appropriately and is used with 
oversight.


                             No More Tulias

  While I support the Byrne-JAG reauthorization, I would also urge my 
colleagues to also support my bill, H.R. 253, No More Tulias: Drug Law 
Enforcement Evidentiary Standards Improvement Act of 2007. This bill 
also enhances accountability with respect to the use of Byrne-JAG 
monies.
  First, it prohibits a State from receiving for a fiscal year any drug 
control and system improvement (Byrne) grant funds, or any other amount 
from any other law enforcement assistance program of the Department 
of Justice, unless the State does not fund any antidrug task forces for 
that fiscal year or the State has in effect laws that ensure that: (1) 
a person is not convicted of a drug offense unless the facts that a 
drug offense was committed and that the person committed that offense 
are supported by evidence other than the eyewitness testimony of a law 
enforcement officer or individuals acting on an officer's behalf; and 
(2) an officer does not participate in a antidrug task force unless 
that officer's honesty and integrity is evaluated and found to be at an 
appropriately high level.

  Second, H.R. 253, No More Tulias, requires that states receiving 
Federal funds under the No More Tulias Act to collect data on the 
racial distribution of drug charges, the nature of the criminal law 
specified in the charges, and the jurisdictions in which such charges 
are made. I urge my colleagues to support my No More Tulias Act so that 
we can quickly bring the bill to markup.
  I also urge my colleagues to support Byrne-JAG.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleague in urging passage of the 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the Senate bill, S. 231.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________