[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 109 (Thursday, July 7, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H4545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AN AMERICAN PROBLEM

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I made a request in the Judiciary Committee 
to our chairperson to have hearings on this issue. We have a bill that 
would require each State to set up a system of independent prosecutors 
to look at law enforcement killings, shootings.
  The fact is an Attorney General can't look at a law enforcement 
shooting without prejudicing their ability to do their jobs. They work 
hand in glove with law enforcement, and if they have to police law 
enforcement, they have a problem in effectively doing their jobs later 
on.
  We have asked that each State set up a system of independent 
prosecutors so people know there is justice and fairness and oversight. 
That is reasonable, and we should have hearings.
  What happened in Baton Rouge, what happened in Minnesota has happened 
in New York, has happened in North Charleston. It has happened in 
Cleveland, Ohio. It has happened in Memphis, Tennessee. And African 
American men are subject to being shot for reasons that others aren't.
  Police need to be more careful, and we need to see that our country 
takes this, as President Obama has in his statement from Europe: this 
is an American problem.

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