[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 17, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3000-S3001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          National Police Week

  Mr. President, I rise to talk about the sea of blue that is in 
Washington, DC, this week. Monday was National Police Day. This week, 
we celebrate National Police Week. Law enforcement personnel--men and 
women from around the country--are in Washington to share their 
incredible commitment, their stories of sacrifice, courage, and the 
work they have done to protect our communities. Indeed, they are the 
frontlines of protection for our communities.
  These incredible men and women in Colorado and across the country put 
their lives on the line each and every day to keep us safe.
  They put their lives on the line each and every day to keep us safe. 
While they don't do this work--this sacrifice, this commitment--
selfishly or for credit or recognition, I think all of us in the Senate 
this week join together when we say that we are happy to see so many of 
them in the Nation's Capital for this National Police Week.
  I will never forget one time when we were out in Colorado and we were 
at a September 11 commemoration service. Our son Thatcher--he is 5 
years old now; at the time, he was probably about 4 years old. It was 
just last year that we walked by a group of police officers who were 
there working that day. We were talking about the loss of so many first 
responders and law enforcement personnel and that September 11 day in 
2001, so many years ago now, it seems. But I remember telling our son 
Thatcher--I said: Thatcher, what do we say to police officers? I was 
thinking his response would be, thank you. I said: You should go tell 
them that. You should go tell that to the police officer.
  He walked up to the police officer and he got a little nervous--4 
years old. I said: What do you say, Thatcher? Again, I was thinking he 
would say: Thank you. Instead, he looked up at the police officer and 
he said: You are a hero.
  It kind of choked me up a little bit. I didn't say that to him; that 
was something that this 4 year old knew instinctively--knew from the 
work they had done around communities, the conversations he has been a 
part of. At 4 years old, he knew the work they do to protect us.
  They are heroes. They show the highest amount of courage one can 
imagine. They run toward danger without hesitation to keep us safe and 
to protect our communities.
  We ask an incredible amount of our law enforcement time and again. 
They are answering the call, whether that is a call wondering why 
someone hasn't moved a car for several days, a call to do a wellness 
check or maybe to ask why they haven't heard from an elderly relative 
or maybe a call because they saw a broken window and they are concerned 
about what is happening inside.
  We call on them each and every day to protect our communities. While 
we honor and celebrate the men and women protecting us this week, we 
must also remember our fallen heroes. Their courage is unparalleled. 
They went to work each and every day facing risks that most of us find 
unimaginable, never expecting their end of watch to occur on that day.
  In Colorado and across the country last year, tragedy struck far too 
many times. Last year, Colorado lost three men in the line of duty, 
three men who will never be forgotten by the people of Colorado or 
their families, their communities.
  Earlier this week, I met with the family of one of these fallen 
heroes, Corporal Nate Carrigan. Nate Carrigan, a sheriff's deputy for 
Park County, was a role model in the community and someone who took 
great pride in protecting the people and the area he loved. The pride 
and love Nate's family have for the work their son did to keep his 
community safe is unexplainable.
  We also lost a sheriff's deputy, Derek Geer, this past year in 
Colorado, and we lost Cody Donahue in Colorado in 2016. All of them 
were memorialized this week. We celebrated their lives this week, and I 
hope their families know and recognize that we will always hold them 
and their loved ones in our prayers. They will always be a part of our 
community's fabric, knowing each and every day we rely on them to 
provide our own families with protection.
  Mr. President, thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to Rachel Brand's 
nomination to the No. 3 spot in the Justice Department. Now, there are 
many reasons I am opposed to this nomination, but those reasons are all 
grounded in a central question facing America today: Whom does this 
government work for? Does it work just for the rich and powerful? Does 
it work just for the well connected? Does it work just for the 
billionaire in the White House or does it work for everyone?
  One of the worst kept secrets in America is that there are two 
justice systems; one for the rich and powerful and one for everyone 
else. The first justice system is an exclusive club for giant 
corporations and wealthy individuals. In that justice system, serious 
crimes are punished with a slap on the wrist and a small fine. 
Taxpayers bail out corporations that stole the life savings, and 
wealthy criminals go back to their lives without missing a beat.
  The second justice system is for those who can't buy their way out of 
prison time. In that system, minor, nonviolent offenses are punished 
with harsh prison sentences. When those individuals are eventually 
released, they are branded with the scarlet letter that closes doors to 
employment and opportunity. It is a system that swallows up people 
whole and spits them out with nothing.
  Americans are very familiar with the difference between those two 
justice systems. We saw the difference after the worst financial crisis 
in a generation, when Wall Street tycoons who gambled away the life 
savings of working Americans walked away free as a bird. We saw it in 
the War on Drugs when countless Black and Brown people were shoveled 
into prisons, where they wasted their lives away.
  We need to fix this problem. We should be devoting every resource we 
have to fixing this problem. That starts with the Justice Department, 
the agency responsible for ensuring that nobody is above the law, and 
everyone--everyone is held accountable.
  Unfortunately, it has been pretty clear to me for some time now that 
President Trump's Justice Department is pushing as hard as possible in 
the opposite direction. For much of President Obama's second term, 
prosecutors were allowed some discretion to consider the unique 
circumstances of each case and make a measured decision about when to 
ask for the most serious charge with the maximum penalty or when to ask 
for less.
  It worked. Jail time for low-level drug offenses went down. States 
saved money, and lives were not irretrievably broken. Last week, that 
modest advance came to an end. Attorney General Sessions directed 
prosecutors to charge individuals with the harshest sentences possible. 
``Lock them up'' seems to be his approach--but not in all cases. Jeff 
Sessions sings a very different tune when it comes to white-collar 
crime. He believes corporations should not be punished for the actions 
of their executives. Don't punish the companies for a few bad CEO 
apples.
  In Jeff Session's world, we should throw the book at criminals, 
unless they are rich and powerful. Now, President Trump has chosen to 
somewhat help Jeff Sessions carry out his vision. His choice to be the 
third highest ranking official at the Justice Department is Rachel 
Brand, the nominee for Associate Attorney General.
  She is well equipped to carry out that soft-on-white-collar-crime 
approach. She has extensive experience--years of experience--fighting 
on behalf of the biggest and richest companies in the world. She spent 
years leading the Chamber of Commerce's assault on the rules that 
protect working families, evidently deciding time after time that it is 
corporations that should get every break.
  As the head of regulatory litigation of the chamber of commerce, Ms. 
Brand worked to dismantle environmental rules that prevent companies 
from poisoning our air and water. She worked to shield financial 
companies

[[Page S3001]]

from accountability when they broke the law or did not play by the 
rules. She worked to end the employment rules that prevent companies 
from abusing their workers.
  If she is confirmed to the No. 3 spot at the Justice Department, she 
can watch out for giant corporations from her perch right inside the 
government. The Brand nomination is just another predictable move from 
a President who clearly believes that one set of rules should apply to 
the rich and powerful, and another set of rules should apply to 
everyone else.
  We all remember Donald Trump's promise during the campaign that he 
was going to drain the swamp. Well, it is 118 days in, and the swamp is 
bigger, deeper, uglier, and filled with more corrupt creatures than 
ever. Over the last several days, President Trump has made it perfectly 
clear that he believes he should be above the law.
  After he fired FBI Director James Comey, Trump went on national 
television and told the world that he fired Comey, in part, because 
Comey was leading an investigation into ties between the Trump 
campaign, the Trump administration, and Russia. Trump said top of mind 
when he fired Comey was ``this Russia thing with Trump.''
  Now we have learned that he apparently pressured Comey in private 
meetings to drop aspects of the Russia investigation before he fired 
him. It is a basic presumption of our democracy that politicians cannot 
interfere with the law enforcement investigations into their own 
potential wrongdoing, but President Trump openly admitted trying to 
interfere with an ongoing investigation, and he clearly believes there 
should be no consequences for himself.
  I understand that President Trump thinks he should be able to decide 
what investigations into his dealings go forward and what 
investigations get stopped on the spot. I understand that President 
Trump thinks he should be able to pack his Justice Department full of 
people who will watch out for billionaire CEOs and giant corporations. 
After all, he has packed other agencies with similar people.
  I understand that is what President Trump thinks, but he is wrong. 
One of the things that makes our democracy strong is that we believe no 
one is above the law, not CEOs, not giant corporations, and not the 
President of the United States. It is up to the Senate to remind the 
President of that fact. We can start by rejecting the nomination of 
Rachel Brand to serve as Associate Attorney General. I ask everyone who 
believes in the promise of equal justice under the law to do the same.
  (The remarks of Ms. Warren pertaining to the introduction of S. 1162 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Ms. WARREN. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.