[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 3, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H881-H884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CAMPUS SAFETY ACT OF 2009

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 748) to establish and operate a National Center for 
Campus Public Safety.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 748

       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 ``Center to Advance, Monitor, 
     and Preserve University Security Safety Act of 2009'' or the 
     ``CAMPUS Safety Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. NATIONAL CENTER FOR CAMPUS PUBLIC SAFETY.

       Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 
     of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
     end the following new part:

          ``PART LL--NATIONAL CENTER FOR CAMPUS PUBLIC SAFETY

     ``SEC. 3021. NATIONAL CENTER FOR CAMPUS PUBLIC SAFETY.

       ``(a) Authority To Establish and Operate Center.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Director of the Office of Community 
     Oriented Policing Services is authorized to establish and 
     operate a National Center for Campus Public Safety (referred 
     to in this section as the `Center').
       ``(2) Grant authority.--The Director of the Office of 
     Community Oriented Policing Services is authorized to award 
     grants to institutions of higher education and other 
     nonprofit organizations to assist in carrying out the 
     functions of the Center required under subsection (b).
       ``(b) Functions of the Center.--The Center shall--
       ``(1) provide quality education and training for campus 
     public safety agencies of institutions of higher education 
     and the agencies' collaborative partners, including campus 
     mental health agencies;
       ``(2) foster quality research to strengthen the safety and 
     security of institutions of higher education;
       ``(3) serve as a clearinghouse for the identification and 
     dissemination of information,

[[Page H882]]

     policies, procedures, and best practices relevant to campus 
     public safety, including off-campus housing safety, the 
     prevention of violence against persons and property, and 
     emergency response and evacuation procedures;
       ``(4) develop protocols, in conjunction with the Attorney 
     General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of 
     Education, State, local, and tribal governments and law 
     enforcement agencies, private and nonprofit organizations and 
     associations, and other stakeholders, to prevent, protect 
     against, respond to, and recover from, natural and man-made 
     emergencies or dangerous situations involving an immediate 
     threat to the health or safety of the campus community;
       ``(5) promote the development and dissemination of 
     effective behavioral threat assessment and management models 
     to prevent campus violence;
       ``(6) coordinate campus safety information (including ways 
     to increase off-campus housing safety) and resources 
     available from the Department of Justice, the Department of 
     Homeland Security, the Department of Education, State, local, 
     and tribal governments and law enforcement agencies, and 
     private and nonprofit organizations and associations;
       ``(7) increase cooperation, collaboration, and consistency 
     in prevention, response, and problem-solving methods among 
     law enforcement, mental health, and other agencies and 
     jurisdictions serving institutions of higher education;
       ``(8) develop standardized formats and models for mutual 
     aid agreements and memoranda of understanding between campus 
     security agencies and other public safety organizations and 
     mental health agencies; and
       ``(9) report annually to Congress and the Attorney General 
     on activities performed by the Center during the previous 12 
     months.
       ``(c) Coordination With Available Resources.--In 
     establishing the Center, the Director of the Office of 
     Community Oriented Policing Services shall--
       ``(1) consult with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the 
     Secretary of Education, and the Attorney General of each 
     State; and
       ``(2) coordinate the establishment and operation of the 
     Center with campus public safety resources that may be 
     available within the Department of Homeland Security and the 
     Department of Education.
       ``(d) Definition of Institution of Higher Education.--In 
     this section, the term `institution of higher education' has 
     the meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 
     Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).
       ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
     $2,750,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2013.''.

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


                             General Leave

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Madam Speaker, over the past few years we have seen a number of 
tragic incidents of violence at colleges and universities, including 
the disastrous events at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois 
University. Therefore, we have introduced the Center to Advance, 
Monitor and Preserve University Security Safety Act of 2009, or the 
CAMPUS Safety Act of 2009.
  This bill will help schools to more effectively prevent such 
incidents, and to more effectively respond if such events do occur. It 
creates a National Center of Campus Public Safety, a program to be 
administered through the Department of Justice.
  The center will train campus safety agencies, promote research in 
improving campus safety, and be a clearinghouse for campus safety 
information. The director of the center will have authority to award 
grants to institutions of higher learning to help them meet their 
enhanced public safety goals.
  I would like to thank the gentleman from Texas, the ranking member of 
the subcommittee, Mr. Gohmert, for his support of this important 
bipartisan measure.
  I urge colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of 
my time.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  In 2 weeks, teachers, students, alumni and friends of Northern 
Illinois University will gather to commemorate the 1-year anniversary 
of the tragic shootings that occurred at the university's campus. As 
you may recall, on February 14, Valentines Day 2008, a gunman stormed a 
classroom at NIU and opened fire, killing five students and wounding 16 
others before killing himself.
  Later this year, in April, similar groups of individuals associated 
with Virginia Tech will commemorate the 2-year anniversary on that 
campus shooting that killed 27 students and five faculty members. We 
now know that the shooter was a mentally disturbed individual who was 
able to purchase two handguns in any event. He brought those handguns 
to the campus and began a shooting spree that spanned several hours and 
occurred in both dormitories and classrooms throughout the campus 
complex.
  As we remember the tragic shootings at Northern Illinois University 
and Virginia Tech, and think of the violence that occurs in public 
schools across the country, it is appropriate for Congress to act and 
provide resources to schools and law enforcement officials to help 
protect our greatest resource, and that is our children in our schools. 
School and college campuses should be safe environments for all 
students to learn. Today, campus security requires much more than ever 
before, including the campus police, emergency alert systems and 
emergency response plans.
  H.R. 748 authorizes the Department of Justice to establish a National 
Center for Campus Public Safety to award grants to colleges and 
universities and other nonprofit organizations. It also provides 
education and training for campus public safety agencies, and promote 
research to improve the security of colleges and our universities.
  The center may coordinate with other Federal agencies to prevent and 
respond to natural disasters, incidents of campus violence or even 
other emergencies. The center also may promote the development of an 
effective behavioral health threat assessment to prevent campus 
violence.
  In the 110th Congress, Chairman Bobby Scott and ranking member Louie 
Gohmert of the Crime Subcommittee worked together to cosponsor a 
version of this bill, which was passed by the House on a voice vote. 
The Senate was unable to take up this bill last year, so many of my 
colleagues reintroduced the bill this term. It is my hope that the 
other body will consider and pass this legislation during the Congress.
  Through this legislation and other programs across the country, we 
can endeavor to prevent violence on our college and university 
campuses. And I urge all of my colleagues to support the passage of 
H.R. 748.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I would inquire if the 
gentleman has other speakers.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Yes, two.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I reserve my time.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my friend and 
colleague from Texas (Mr. Culberson).

                              {time}  1430

  Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Speaker, there certainly is no higher priority 
for all of us than the safety of our sons and daughters, and that 
safety involves not only their physical safety but their financial 
safety. The financial safety of our young men and women across this 
country is held in the palms of the hands of this Congress. In fact, 
this new liberal majority in Congress has been spending money so fast, 
and we have only been in session for 17 legislative days.
  Madam Speaker, in thinking about the financial safety of these young 
people, if you look at just the time that Congress has been zeroed in 
on this so-called stimulus bill, Congress has spent $1.3 trillion in 9 
legislative days. Let me repeat that. We have this new liberal 
majority. The country voted for change, but I am not sure this is the 
change that people wanted or expected. The change we got was spending 
money at an ever faster rate. $1.3 trillion has been spent by this 
liberal majority in 9 legislative days. That means that this new 
majority in Congress is spending money at a rate of $100 million a 
minute. Now that needs to sink in for a minute. For the change that we 
got,

[[Page H883]]

this new Congress is spending money at the rate of $100 million a 
minute.
  That is not unlike if I were to try to pay my mortgage with my 
MasterCard. Now, everyone knows you cannot do that. I cannot pay my 
mortgage with my MasterCard, but I would get a lot of frequent flyer 
miles out of that. It is as dangerous, I should say, to pay your 
mortgage with your MasterCard as it is for this Congress to imperil the 
financial safety of future generations by spending borrowed money we do 
not have.
  This is an unprecedented spending spree that has much more to do with 
rewarding the constituency of the liberal majority--the trial lawyers 
and the labor unions--rather than stimulating the economy and 
protecting the financial safety of future generations.
  We fiscal conservatives understand instinctively that the best way to 
protect the financial safety of future generations is to simply let 
Americans keep more of their own money by cutting their taxes, by 
giving them a tax-free holiday. How about that? That would be a 
straightforward, simple, immediate way to inject money into the 
economy, which is for people to spend and to invest as they wish rather 
than for the Federal Government to make the united policy decision that 
it is necessary to engage in deficit spending in order to stimulate the 
economy.
  Rather than pumping the money out to labor unions and to trial 
lawyers and to new government programs and expanding the bureaucracy, 
why don't we simply inject that money into giving Americans X number of 
tax-free days where you keep 100 percent of your money, where you can 
invest it, save it, and spend it as you wish? In my opinion, there is 
no better way. I think that is something that every American can 
understand. There is no simpler, quicker or better way to stimulate job 
growth and to strengthen the economy than to simply let Americans keep 
more of their hard-earned money. That is the way to protect the 
financial stability of future generations.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. POE of Texas. I yield the gentleman from Texas an extra minute.
  Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Speaker, as we go through this debate today and 
look to protect the physical and financial safety of future 
generations, it is important for this Congress to remember that every 
dollar we spend today is truly borrowed money. It is money that is 
going to have to be paid for by future generations, and we have an 
obligation--all of us as guardians of the Treasury--to remember the 
financial safety and security of our children and grandchildren.
  In every spending decision we make, why aren't we approaching this 
from the perspective of we have got the biggest debt in the history of 
the Nation? We have got the biggest deficit in the history of the 
Nation. Therefore, the answer is ``no'' to new spending. We need to not 
only cut taxes but to cut spending at the same time. We need to all of 
us stay focused on what is truly in the best interests of these young 
people. How do we best protect their physical and financial security? 
By protecting the financial solvency of the United States of America.
  Our most sacred obligation, it seems to me as Representatives of the 
people, is to protect the financial safety and security of the Nation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has again expired.
  Mr. POE of Texas. I will yield to the gentleman 1 extra minute.
  Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Speaker, I believe this is an unprecedented 
spending spree. When you analyze the history of the Congress of the 
United States, I would challenge anyone to find another time in our 
history when the Congress has ever spent at the rate of $100 million a 
minute. I don't think that has ever happened before. $100 million a 
minute. $1.3 trillion in 9 days. Now, the entire annual budget of the 
United States is about $900 trillion.
  I have the privilege of serving on the Appropriations Committee, by 
the way, where my starting answer on all spending requests is ``no.'' 
``Yes'' is very hard to earn. I am very careful about the few things 
that I ask support for in the sciences and in medical scientific 
research.
  We have this new liberal majority in Congress. The change that this 
new majority and the new President promised has led to a spending spree 
of $100 million a minute. That has given this country a $1.3 trillion 
so-called stimulus spending bill in 9 legislative days, exceeding the 
annual budget of the United States, which is about $900 billion. This 
is unprecedented. It is dangerous. It imperils the financial safety of 
future generations, Madam Speaker, and I hope Congress throws this 
spending bill out in favor of tax cuts.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close if the 
gentleman has concluded and will yield back.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I have an additional speaker. I 
yield as much time as he wishes to consume to the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Cantor).
  Mr. CANTOR. Madam Speaker, I know that the subject of this particular 
piece of legislation has to do with campus safety, and I know we are 
all concerned about campus safety. In fact, this is a separate bill 
relating to campus safety, which makes the point, Madam Speaker:
  If you look at the current proposal dealing with our economy and the 
economic ruin that families are facing, there is $6 billion allocated 
in that bill to colleges and to universities. That gives me great cause 
for concern. What in the world does that have to do with stimulating 
our economy and with allowing families and small businesses in this 
country to get back on their feet?
  Again, I would say to my colleague and friend from Virginia, as well 
as to the gentleman from Texas, that the bill on the floor does have to 
do with college campus safety. That is where a $6 billion allocation 
appropriation to colleges and universities should belong, not in a 
stimulus bill.
  Listen, the people of this country are expecting Washington to 
finally clean up its act and to respond accordingly so that we can get 
our economy back on track. In fact, the latest Gallup poll that was 
taken this weekend shows that only 38 percent of Americans support the 
congressional Democrats' spending bill. Speaker Pelosi's bill in this 
House contains billions of dollars of continued Washington spending in 
the same old fashion. It has got plenty of pork in it. It has got $137 
billion while creating 32 new Federal programs.
  I would say that some of these programs have laudable goals. There is 
no question that we need to address so many things going on in this 
country. Right now, though, the priority is this economy, and when we 
are talking about a stimulus plan, a stimulus plan should be focused 
like a laser on the preservation, on the protection and on the creation 
of jobs. Again, it may not be bad that we are looking to spend more 
money in terms of helping safety on our college campuses, but that 
belongs in a separate bill, not in a spending bill aimed at stimulating 
this economy.
  I would say that the Members on our side of the aisle continue to 
want to work with the majority to try and craft a bill that delivers 
results. President Obama was elected partly due to the hope that he 
instilled in so many Americans that he would change the way that 
Washington works, that we finally in this town would be accountable to 
the people who pay the taxes so that we could deliver the results and 
so that we could deliver on job creation and on opportunities for our 
children and for the next generation.
  Madam Speaker, the bill that passed this House last week does not 
rise to that standard, and I implore the Speaker and her colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle to work with us. We have put forward a plan 
that involves real stimulus, that is very focused on the folks--on the 
entrepreneurs, on the small businesspeople and on the self-employed--
who actually do create the jobs in this economy. We need to provide 
them with relief. We need to provide relief to the working families--to 
the taxpayers who are suffering under this heavy burden for which they 
have got to pay every single day that they are at work.
  Madam Speaker, again, I urge our colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle to work with us so that we can arrive at a bill that provides 
true stimulus and that delivers results.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield back the remainder of my 
time.

[[Page H884]]

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I would like to thank the other side for their support of the 
underlying bill and for their comments that give rise to the challenge 
we may have in actually funding the legislation.
  Sixteen years ago, we had a Democratic majority, and we passed a 
budget and an economic plan. It passed without a single Republican 
vote--not one in the House, not one in the Senate. It was signed by 
President Clinton. In 8 years, we eliminated the debt.
  As a matter of fact, at the end of the 8 years, when Chairman 
Greenspan was testifying before Congress, the questions he was asked 
were questions like: What will happen when we pay off the national 
debt? What will happen to the bond market? What will happen to interest 
rates when we pay off the national debt?
  It was anticipated that year that we were to clear up all of the debt 
held by the public. The median income went up about $7,000. Tens of 
millions of jobs were created. The Dow Jones industrial average more 
than tripled. Then in 2001, the Republican plan was adopted--the 
Republicans who have been lecturing on for the last few minutes about 
the economy.
  As a direct result of their plan, we had the worst job performance 
since the Great Depression. The Dow Jones Industrial Average did not 
triple. It went down. The median income actually went down. We did not 
pay off the national debt. We almost doubled the national debt. We are 
now in a situation where we have to dig ourselves out of that mess. 
Everyone regrets the necessity of having to have a huge stimulus plan 
to get us out of the mess, but that is what we have had to do. We would 
like to listen to the other side and to their ideas, but unfortunately, 
as a result of recent history, we know where those ideas will put us. 
So we have a stimulus plan. Hopefully, it will get us out of the mess 
we are in so that we will have the funds to fund the CAMPUS Safety Act 
of 2009.
  I would hope that the House would support the bill and would support 
the authorization. Then the next job we will do will be to actually 
fund it in order to get us out of the economic mess that we are in.
  Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the 
CAMPUS Safety Act of 2009, H.R. 748.
  First let me start by thanking Congressman Scott for his continued 
leadership on campus safety issues. He has been a steadfast supporter 
of establishing a National Center for Campus Public Safety as well as 
improving hate crime reporting on campuses under the federal Jeanne 
Clery Act.
  Creation of a National Center for Campus Public Safety grew out of 
recommendations from a 2004 National Summit on Campus Public Safety 
convened by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community 
Oriented Policing Services, or COPS Office. The purpose of the Center 
is to support the field, foster collaboration and lasting 
relationships, facilitate information sharing, and provide quality 
education on safety issues facing colleges in a post-September 11, 2001 
world.
  After the tragic incidents of gun violence at Virginia Tech on April 
16, 2007, at Northern Illinois University on February 14, 2008, and on 
other campuses across the country, we were reminded just how important 
this work is and it took on a new urgency. The Center will be able to 
help campuses create partnerships with mental health professionals and 
others to catch problems before they escalate and implement proven 
strategies to respond should another tragedy strike.
  This effort is also consistent with and an important follow-up to 
legislation I sponsored that was enacted last year as part of the 
Higher Education Opportunity Act, P.L. 110-315. This new provision, 
known as the Virginia Tech Victims Campus Emergency Response Policy and 
Notification Act, or ``VTV Act'' and a part of the federal Jeanne Clery 
Act, requires institutions to enact comprehensive emergency response 
plans that include means to issue immediate warnings when an emergency 
threatens the campus.
  I look forward to the Center working with the U.S. Department of 
Education, the agency with jurisdiction over the Clery Act, and 
campuses across the country to help them fully implement these life-
saving notification requirements. Making sure that institutions have a 
central resource to turn to for assistance with this will be one of the 
most important things that we in Congress can do to help secure our 
Nation's campuses.
  Important groundwork for the Center has already been laid. In 2006 
the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, 
Inc., IACLEA, received a grant to develop a strategic plan for the 
Center. Among other things they convened an advisory board comprised of 
key constituency groups to help guide this process.
  I was especially pleased to see that a leading voice for students and 
families on campus safety issues--Security On Campus, Inc., SOC--was 
included at the table. It is imperative that SOC and other groups that 
represent the interests of those the Center is intended to protect, 
along with campus public safety professionals, continue to be heard as 
this process moves forward.
  I would encourage the Attorney General and his staff to make sure 
that the COPS Office continues to reach out to diverse constituency 
groups and organizations that may have important resources to bring to 
bear.
  Establishment of a National Center for Campus Public Safety will be a 
tremendous asset for our Nation's colleges and universities as they 
work to protect their students, employees, and others on campus.
  I support the bill and ask my colleagues to join me.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 748.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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