[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 6, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2662-S2663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REBUILDING OUR COMMUNITIES

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, yesterday, along with Senator Mikulski and 
Congressmen Cummings and Ruppersberger and Sarbanes, I was in Baltimore 
with Attorney General Lynch meeting with our faith-based leaders. 
Attorney General Lynch also met with the mayor of Baltimore as well as 
the family of Freddie Gray. She also met with our Baltimore City Police 
Department. I wish to thank the Attorney General for her personal 
presence in Baltimore.
  For those of us who live in Baltimore, the events over these last 
couple of weeks have been heartbreaking. The city we love has gone 
through a very difficult time. I wish to thank my colleagues who have 
contacted Senator Mikulski and me for offering their help, for offering 
their understanding, and for their willingness to work together so we 
can deal with the issues that have been raised in Baltimore--and other 
cities, quite frankly--in other places around the country. It is our 
responsibility to move forward, and the people of Baltimore understand 
that. We understand the national spotlight will be leaving and we are 
going to need to deal with the issues that are left behind.
  To me, there are two pillars for the rebuilding of Baltimore and 
restoring confidence; one deals with public safety and justice and the 
other deals with rebuilding as a result of the damages that were caused 
and dealing with the core problems that led up to the violence in 
Baltimore. I believe that we in Baltimore can serve as a model for the 
country as to how we can make our community and our Nation stronger.
  On the public safety and justice pillar, let me make some suggestions 
to my colleagues. I have spoken to several of my colleagues about areas 
where I hope we can work together in order to restore public safety and 
justice in our community. One of those issues is a bill I filed that 
would end racial profiling in America. We should have passed this bill 
a long time ago.
  Racial profiling--profiling because of the race of a community or the 
ethnic background or a religion--is just wrong. It is against the 
values we believe in in this country. It turns communities against law 
enforcement. We saw that in Baltimore and we have seen it in other 
communities around the country where the local community just does not 
have confidence that the police department is working on their behalf. 
We heard examples of that yesterday in the roundtable discussion we had 
with the faith-based leaders. We have to restore that confidence. One 
way to do it is to make it clear that our national policy is against 
profiling by police.
  Now, let me make it clear that if a person has some specific 
information about a particular crime and identifies who is responsible, 
that is not profiling. That is not what we are talking about. We are 
talking about communities in Baltimore and around the country where a 
person is African American and they have a much better chance of being 
stopped by police just because of the color of their skin. That is 
wrong, and it has to end in America. We need to take action in this 
body, the U.S. Senate, to make it clear that we will not permit racial 
profiling. It is not only wrong and counterproductive to neighborhoods 
working with police; it is costly. We have limited resources to spend 
in law enforcement. It is not productive in keeping communities safe, 
and as we have seen around the country, it can be deadly. We need to do 
more in this area.
  I have spoken to some of my colleagues about some of the sentencing 
guidelines we have in this country. They are certainly discriminatory 
against certain communities in America. We need to take a look at our 
criminal justice system and at the sentencing guidelines to recognize 
that if a person is of a certain race or a certain religion or ethnic 
background, that person is much more likely to end up in prison today, 
even though the incidents of the violations of the law are no different 
in their community than in other communities in this country. We have 
to deal with it. This country has to deal with that.
  Lastly, I have introduced legislation that would restore voting 
privileges for those who have completed their prison sentences, and we 
need to pass it. I know I have support on both sides of the aisle. We 
had a vote on that not too long ago, where we had almost a majority 
willing to move forward. I hope we can come to an agreement. I remember 
the opposition said it is the wrong bill. Well, let's get a bill that 
is the right bill to restore voting privileges to those who complete 
their sentences.
  They can then again become a part of the community. They know we 
believe they have a future. They should be able to serve on our juries. 
There is not a person who is serving in the U.S. Senate who didn't have 
a second chance sometime in their life. All of us need a second chance. 
We can't give up on people. I think the experiences we have seen in 
Baltimore and around the rest of the country indicate that we all have 
a stake in rebuilding and giving opportunities to every person in our 
community.
  I talked about rebuilding and dealing with the core issues that led 
up to the violence in Baltimore. There was a letter written to the 
Baltimore Sun this week that said we need a Marshall Plan for America's 
cities. That sort of struck me because I thought back to World War II, 
when Europe was burning and the United States came to the rescue of 
Europe and put out the fire. But we didn't stop there. We then planted 
the seeds for the rebuilding of Europe. We were not alone. Other 
countries helped us, the private community helped us, businesses helped 
us, and Europe was rebuilt.
  So it is not enough just to restore public order on the streets of 
Baltimore. We have to rebuild in a way that we give opportunities for 
jobs for all the people in the community. We talked about what is going 
to happen this summer. Will there be summer jobs for our young people? 
Will we have permanent jobs for them? We have to work on that.
  We have to work on rebuilding. We can do this. We have come together 
in the past. We are the strongest country in the world. The United 
States has been there to help people around the world. We said we would 
pursue efforts about ending HIV/AIDS under President Reagan, and the 
PEPFAR Program has changed the dynamics around the world on the spread 
of HIV/AIDS. It is time we used that energy here in America to help the 
people of this country.
  So I hope we will all come together and look at the core problems and 
help rebuild America. It is appropriate that we talk about it the day 
after we passed our budget. I hope, as we get to the individual 
appropriations bills, that we understand the Federal Government, in 
partnership with the private sector, in partnership with State and 
local governments, can do a better job.
  Today, Secretary Perez, the Secretary of Labor, is going to be in 
Baltimore meeting with local officials to figure out how the Federal 
Government can partner with us to provide resources to energize the 
private sector, to energize the rebirth of Baltimore. I heard a request 
from groups I met with about the new markets tax credit. We

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need to extend those types of credits that can make a difference in our 
urban centers. I visited with Pastor Hickman whose church was torched--
the senior housing project next door to his church was on fire last 
Monday night. He is rebuilding that senior housing project, but he 
clearly knows he needs partners from the Federal Government.
  We can do a better job. I urge my colleagues to understand we can do 
this. We must do this. We must rebuild our cities and our communities 
for a better Baltimore and for the betterment of America's future.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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