[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 14, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H1559-H1566]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1300
 STUDENT, TEACHERS, AND OFFICERS PREVENTING SCHOOL VIOLENCE ACT OF 2018

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4909) to reauthorize the grant program for school security 
in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4909

       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 ``Student, Teachers, and 
     Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018'' or the 
     ``STOP School Violence Act of 2018''.

     SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL SECURITY.

       Part AA of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
     Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10551 et seq.) is amended--
       (1) in section 2701 (34 U.S.C. 10551)--
       (A) in subsection (a)--
       (i) by striking ``Director of the Office of Community 
     Oriented Policing Services'' and inserting ``Director of the 
     Bureau of Justice Assistance''; and
       (ii) by striking ``including the placement and use of metal 
     detectors and other deterrent measures'' and inserting 
     ``through evidence-based strategies and programs to prevent 
     violence, which may include the use of appropriate 
     technologies, including the placement and use of metal 
     detectors and other deterrent measure and emergency 
     notification and response technologies'';
       (B) in subsection (b)--
       (i) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting 
     after ``through'' the following: ``evidence-based school 
     safety programs that may include''; and
       (ii) by striking paragraphs (1) through (6) and inserting 
     the following:
       ``(1) Training to prevent student violence against others 
     and self, including training for local law enforcement 
     officers, school personnel, and students.
       ``(2) The development and operation of anonymous reporting 
     systems for threats of school violence, including mobile 
     telephone applications, hotlines, and internet websites.
       ``(3) The development and operation of--
       ``(A) school threat assessment and intervention teams that 
     may include coordination with law enforcement agencies and 
     school personnel; and
       ``(B) specialized training for school officials in 
     responding to mental health crises.
       ``(4) Coordination with local law enforcement.
       ``(5) Placement and use of metal detectors, locks, 
     lighting, and other deterrent measures.
       ``(6) Security assessments.
       ``(7) Security training of personnel and students.
       ``(8) Subgrants to State or local law enforcement agencies, 
     schools, school districts, nonprofit organizations, or Indian 
     tribal organizations to implement grants awarded under this 
     section.
       ``(9) Acquisition and installation of technology for 
     expedited notification of local law enforcement during an 
     emergency.
       ``(10) Any other measure that, in the determination of the 
     Director, may provide a significant improvement in 
     security.'';
       (C) in subsection (c)--
       (i) by striking ``and has'' and inserting ``has''; and
       (ii) by inserting before the period at the end the 
     following: ``, and will use evidence-based strategies and 
     programs, such as those identified by the Comprehensive 
     School Safety Initiative of the Department of Justice''; and
       (D) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ``50 percent'' and 
     inserting ``75 percent'';
       (2) in section 2702 (34 U.S.C. 10552)--
       (A) in subsection (a)(2), in the matter preceding 
     subparagraph (A), by striking ``child psychologists'' and 
     inserting ``mental health professionals''; and
       (B) in subsection (b), by striking ``this part'' and 
     inserting ``the STOP School Violence Act of 2018'';
       (3) in section 2704(1) (34 U.S.C. 10554(1)), by striking 
     ``a public'' and inserting ``an'';
       (4) in section 2705, by striking ``$30,000,000 for each of 
     fiscal years 2001 through 2009'' and inserting ``$75,000,000 
     for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2028, of which not less 
     than $50,000,000 shall be available in each such fiscal year 
     for grants for the activities described in paragraphs (1) and 
     (4) of section 2701(b)''; and
       (5) by adding at the end the following:

     ``SEC. 2706. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

       ``(a) No Funds to Provide Firearms or Training.--No amounts 
     provided as a grant under this part may be used for the 
     provision to any person of a firearm or training in the use 
     of a firearm.
       ``(b) No Effect on Other Laws.--Nothing in this part may be 
     construed to preclude or contradict any other provision of 
     law authorizing the provision of firearms or training in the 
     use of firearms.''.

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


                             General Leave

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 4909, currently 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of H.R. 4909, the STOP 
School Violence Act of 2018. Violence at our schools makes students 
feel vulnerable in a place where they should feel comfortable to learn, 
grow, and be happy.
  To curb violence at our Nation's schools, the STOP School Violence 
Act provides a multilayered approach to identify threats and prevent 
violence from taking place on school grounds.
  It provides much-needed resources to train students, teachers, and 
law enforcement officers on how to recognize and quickly respond to 
warning signs, and provides funding for technology to keep schools 
safe.
  Eighty percent of school shooters told someone of their violent plans 
or exhibited warning signs. The bill before us today will ensure that 
students,

[[Page H1560]]

teachers, and law enforcement will learn how to identify at-risk 
behaviors, properly assess threats, and intervene appropriately before 
a tragedy strikes.
  The STOP School Violence Act provides funding for training to prevent 
student violence against others and self, including training for local 
law enforcement officers, school personnel, and students.
  Prevention training gives students and school personnel the ability 
to recognize and respond quickly to warning signs of school violence 
and includes active shooter training.
  The bill provides funding for technology and equipment to improve 
school security and prevent attacks. This includes the development and 
operation of anonymous reporting systems, such as mobile apps, a 
hotline, and a website. Funding may also be used for metal detectors, 
locks, lighting, and other technologies to keep schools safe.
  The bill also supports the acquisition and installation of technology 
for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an 
emergency.
  The legislation also contains funding for school threat assessment 
and crisis intervention teams so that school personnel can respond to 
threats before they materialize.
  Finally, the STOP School Violence Act provides funding to support law 
enforcement coordination efforts and, in particular, those officers who 
already staff schools.
  The version of the bill before us today is the result of a 
collaborative effort of many of my colleagues who worked with Mr. 
Rutherford to incorporate many of their ideas.
  I would like to point out the important contributions of 
Representatives Susan Brooks, Coffman, Chabot, Granger, Rodney Davis, 
Messer, and Bost, including many key elements of legislation that they 
have introduced into this bill that have made the bill stronger.
  Finally, I want to thank Mr. Rutherford and the bipartisan group of 
cosponsors for their work on this important bill, and I urge my 
colleagues to support H.R. 4909.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4909, the STOP School 
Violence Act, as amended. But I do so with serious concerns about some 
of its provisions, and mostly about what the bill fails to do.
  H.R. 4909 would authorize $50 million annually for grants 
administered by the Department of Justice to fund various training and 
other initiatives intended to enhance school safety. It would authorize 
another $25 million annually to be used for other related purposes, 
including physical improvements, such as metal detectors, better locks, 
and systems for schools to notify law enforcement of emergencies.
  The bill is fine as far as it goes, and we should certainly do more 
to make our schools safer, but it is shameful that we must do so 
because of our failure to reduce the threat of gun violence to 
children.
  It should be unacceptable to all of us that we must take steps to 
train staff and students to protect themselves against these types of 
incidents instead of spending more money on actually educating our 
young people.
  This bill does not include any provisions to strengthen our gun laws 
or to help keep guns out of the hands of those who should not possess 
them.
  Evidence and experience tell us that we must establish universal 
background checks instead of the flawed system we now have.
  We should encourage States to adopt laws providing for extreme risk 
protection orders, and we must ban assault weapons and high-capacity 
ammunition magazines. These steps would help prevent not only school 
shootings, but would reduce the daily toll of gun violence in our 
communities.
  None of these critical provisions are included in this bill, which 
was never examined by the Judiciary Committee either through a hearing 
or a legislative markup session. Had we taken these steps, which we 
could have done quickly in the exactly 1 month since the tragic 
Parkland, Florida, shooting, we might have produced a much better bill 
for floor consideration.
  The suspension version of the bill does include an explicit 
prohibition against the funds being used on firearms or firearms 
training. Because President Trump and others in the administration have 
indicated that they believe arming teachers is part of the solution to 
this problem, it was important to my colleagues and to me that we be 
assured that this program, at least, will not be used for such a 
purpose which would actually endanger students, not make them safer.

  However, we should have addressed serious concerns that have come to 
our attention with respect to the anonymous tip reporting systems and 
threat assessment and intervention teams that would be funded by this 
bill. We want people to report information about someone who may 
present a danger to students, but the bill does not include 
requirements that these systems provide adequate due process 
protections for students against whom a report is made.
  I have longstanding concerns about the increased use of law 
enforcement in schools. History tells us that, without proper training, 
use of such policies can have a disproportionate impact on students of 
color and students with disabilities.
  In the decades since Columbine, when the Nation rushed to increase 
school-based law enforcement efforts, thousands of vulnerable students 
have entered the school-to-prison pipeline for conduct that should be 
treated as routine behavior violations.
  I fear, therefore, that efforts to increase school-based law 
enforcement without guardrails to ensure it is done well and based on 
strong evidence may repeat the risks of the past. My concern is only 
heightened by the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to remove 
important tools to ensure States and school districts understand their 
civil rights obligations when disciplining students.
  I urge Secretary DeVos and Attorney General Sessions to maintain 
current discipline and school resource officer guidance to ensure 
implementation of this bill does not exacerbate the school-to-prison 
pipeline.
  We should have had the opportunity to address these important issues 
through consideration in committee, but we did not.
  Like the sponsors of this bill, I want Congress to do more to make 
our schools safer. Therefore, I will support this bill today, not 
withstanding the serious concerns I have outlined, with the hope that 
we will address these concerns going forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Rutherford), a member of the Judiciary Committee and the 
chief sponsor of this legislation.
  Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me 
this time.
  Mr. Speaker, today the House of Representatives has a chance to take 
an important first step towards keeping our students and our teachers 
safe by passing the STOP School Violence Act.
  This bill is the result of bipartisan work of Representative Hal 
Rogers, Representative Ted Deutch, and also Representative Kilmer. We 
also incorporated, as we mentioned earlier, excellent ideas and key 
elements from legislation by Chairwoman Granger, Representatives Susan 
Brooks, Chabot, Rodney Davis, Messer, and Bost. I want to thank all of 
them for their work and commitment to this very important issue.
  I would also like to recognize in a very special way the dedication 
and passion of the parents and members of Sandy Hook Promise, who have 
been integral to us moving this bill forward. I really cannot say 
enough about that organization.
  As a career law enforcement officer and sheriff for 12 years in my 
hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, I know firsthand the importance of 
communities working together to spot early warning signs of violence.
  This is why this bill invests in early intervention and prevention 
programs in our local schools, so that our communities and law 
enforcement can be partners in preventing these horrific acts from 
occurring.
  We need to give students, teachers, and law enforcement the tools and 
training they need to identify warning signs and to know who to 
contact, and

[[Page H1561]]

provide them an anonymous tip source to provide that information.
  Now, I should point out here that those receiving the tips, the 
agencies that are charged with providing due process, are the ones who 
should provide due process here, not the tipster, not the child who may 
be calling in to talk about an issue that he thinks is important to law 
enforcement.

                              {time}  1315

  That is their responsibility to provide due process to the 
individuals involved.
  This bill also gives funding for physical enhancements to help harden 
the target on our school campuses. I know from my law enforcement 
experience that security does require a multilayered approach. Our bill 
supports one very important layer of security for our schools. There is 
still much more work to be done, but the best way to keep our students 
and teachers safe is to give them the tools and the training to 
recognize those warning signs to prevent violence from ever entering 
our school grounds. This bill aims to do just that, Mr. Speaker.
  As I used to tell my community in northeast Florida when I was 
sheriff, I do not want to be the best first responder to an active 
shooter event. I want to prevent that occurrence before it happens, and 
that is the goal of the STOP School Violence Act.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Schneider).
  Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 
4909, the STOP School Violence Act.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a fundamental responsibility to protect our 
young people from violence, and this package of school security 
improvements is an important step. In particular, this bill includes a 
bipartisan provision that I introduced with my friend and colleague 
from Illinois, Congressman  Mike Bost, to help schools acquire and 
install panic buttons in classrooms for use in emergency situations.
  Mr. Bost and I first introduced the Securing Our Schools Act in 
January, and I am proud of the support we have built from both sides of 
the aisle which helped get this provision included in today's school 
safety package.
  This technology will ensure students and teachers have a more 
immediate method of notifying law enforcement and first responders in 
case of a medical emergency, active school shooter incident, or natural 
disaster. All congressional offices have similar emergency buttons. If 
this technology is good enough for Members of Congress, we should be 
doing the same to keep our young people safe where they learn.
  While this bill represents progress, it is far from an adequate 
solution to the threat of gun violence. We now need to build on this 
bipartisan momentum for other urgent solutions to improve gun safety 
and reduce gun violence. This includes universal background checks; 
restrictions on the sale of bump stocks, assault weapons, and high-
capacity magazines; and research into the causes of gun violence.
  Here in this Congress, we have the ability to save lives with 
commonsense legislation. We must act, and I urge my colleagues to 
support this legislation. It is a good start.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), who is a cosponsor of this legislation and 
former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for 
yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the STOP School 
Violence Act. I want to congratulate Sheriff Rutherford, the original 
sponsor of the bill, for his dedicated work on this project, among 
others.
  In the immediate wake of last month's tragedy in Parkland, more than 
15 students in my home district in eastern Kentucky were arrested. 
Thankfully, our students and local law enforcement acted swiftly to 
prevent a copycat event in our own schools. As our Nation battles this 
epidemic of school violence, it is imperative that we utilize our 
available resources to stop tragic events before they occur. But, 
unfortunately, too many students and officials don't have the tools 
they need to successfully act under similar situations.
  This bill takes necessary and commonsense steps to prevent school 
bullying, suicide, and violence, providing grant funding to States to 
implement proven and evidence-based trainings that detect threats 
before they come to fruition. In most cases of school suicides and 
shootings, at least one other person knew of the plan and failed to 
report it. So these appalling events are avoidable, but we must give 
our schools the tools and resources they need, and this bill would do 
just that.
  Enhancing early detection, prevention, and coordination with law 
enforcement will save lives. There may not be one single answer to 
preventing all future violence in schools, but this effort is very much 
a part of the solution.
  Mr. Speaker, I was proud to join my colleagues in introducing this 
bipartisan legislation, and I urge my colleagues to vote for it.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Ms. Esty).
  Ms. ESTY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the STOP 
School Violence Act. Mark Barden and Nicole Hockley each had a child 
killed in the first grade classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 
the district where I live 5 years ago. They and other parents took 
their grief and formed a group called the Sandy Hook Promise. That 
group has been working tirelessly for over 5 years now, and the bill we 
address here today is largely a testament to the hard work that they 
have put in working with mental health professionals, school officials, 
and law enforcement to come up with real steps that will help save 
lives.
  The STOP School Violence Act will not save every life threatened by 
gun violence, but it will save some, and we need to do what we can. But 
let me be very clear. This needs to be the first step of many steps we 
can and should be taking in this House to address the scourge of gun 
violence. We have enormous support for bipartisan comprehensive 
background checks, for a Fix NICS bill, and for banning of bump stocks. 
This needs to be the first of a long line of steps that this Congress 
owes to the American people and owes to the students gathered on the 
lawn of the Capitol today and in every classroom throughout America.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Chabot), who is a member of the Judiciary Committee and 
chairman of the Small Business Committee.

  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Goodlatte, Majority Leader 
McCarthy, and Congressman Rutherford for their leadership on this 
important legislation.
  Over the years, our Nation's schools have become soft targets for any 
would-be killer who has gotten access to a gun. We need to do a better 
job of protecting both students and faculty from these increasingly 
frequent threats.
  This legislation combines school safety provisions included in two 
bills, one originally introduced by Mr. Rutherford, and the other by 
me. Together this proposal represents a collection of commonsense 
solutions to better help protect our students, our teachers, and other 
faculty in our schools.
  H.R. 4909 reauthorizes the COPS Secure Our Schools grant program and 
more than doubles its annual budget from $30 million to $75 million 
annually. Of that $75 million, not less than $50 million per year will 
be made available for evidence-based strategies and programs to prevent 
violence in public or private schools over the next decade.
  Among the security measures for which these grants may be used 
include additional training to ensure the health and well-being of 
students, the development of more robust threat reporting systems, and 
investments in more advanced security technologies.
  Additionally, the COPS Secure Our Schools grants can be used in 
conjunction with the COPS Hiring Program to ensure that our schools 
have both the security measures and personnel in place to prevent 
future violence. On Monday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions 
announced that the Department of Justice will use the COPS Hiring 
Program to increase the number of school resource officers nationwide. 
The legislation we are considering

[[Page H1562]]

today could help that effort by allowing schools to hire retired police 
officers to provide security if the Department of Justice determines 
that such plans would provide a significant improvement in school 
security.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Dan Hils, president of the 
Cincinnati FOP, for actively engaging on the issue of school safety and 
for bringing these types of forward-thinking solutions to my attention. 
He has been a tremendous resource throughout this process.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleague to support this measure.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Deutch), who is a sponsor of this legislation.
  Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from New York.
  Mr. Speaker, the trauma that my community in Parkland, Florida, 
experienced was not unique. Gun violence tears apart American 
communities on a daily basis. So, no, what happened on February 14 when 
14 students and three teachers were hunted in their schools with an AR-
15 assault rifle by a former student, that wasn't unique.
  But the problem of gun violence in America is a uniquely American 
problem. It is an epidemic. It is a complex problem. There are many 
facets. But we know what we need to do, and I am committed to taking 
any step to getting any new policy across the finish line that will 
make our kids safer.
  This bill, the STOP School Violence Act, is a good bill. It will not 
solve our gun problem. It won't ban bump stocks or require Americans to 
be 21 to buy a gun, fix our broken background check system, or get 
weapons of war--the weapons of choice for mass shooters--off our 
streets and out of our communities. But it will help troubled students 
who need help get help, and it will help teachers and law enforcement 
identify potential threats before it is too late.
  Before we vote, I would like to make a few things clear. First, this 
isn't a response to the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. In fact, 
Congressman Rutherford and I introduced this bill a week before the 
shooting. The programs in this bill are based on rigorous, evidence-
based evaluation. They are proven to help reduce isolation and identify 
kids who need help.
  We had no idea at the time that we wouldn't be able to move fast 
enough to stop this tragedy. We had no idea that we would have an 
urgent need to help get more American schools access to these programs. 
But since Congress has failed the American people by ignoring the 
deadly scourge of gun violence, since we failed the families of 
Stoneman Douglas just like we failed the families of Sandy Hook, 
Columbine, and so many others, we owe it to students and teachers 
across this country to at least give them tools to help identify 
dangerous behavior.
  The failure of Congress to take action in response to gun violence 
has left the American gun violence debate in a ridiculous place. Armed 
teachers in every hallway? Is that what we want education to be in 
America? No. I am glad this bill includes a specific prohibition 
against the use of grant dollars to arm school personnel, including 
teachers, or to train school personnel to use firearms.
  Since Congress has failed the American people by ignoring the scourge 
of gun violence and failed the families of Stoneman Douglas, the 
failure of Congress to take action has left us in this position of 
debating gun violence where we are hesitant to even take small steps. 
This is a small and important step.
  I have heard civil rights concerns related to racial profiling and 
discrimination associated with threat assessments in anonymous 
reporting, and I am sensitive to those. Congress should never be in a 
position to make this serious problem worse with new programs to expand 
the discrimination already entrenched in our school system and society 
as a whole.
  I know the evidence shows that discriminatory discipline in schools 
can have dramatic, long-term effects on academic performance and wide-
ranging impact. But this bill, Mr. Speaker, does not perpetuate 
discriminatory policies. Zero tolerance and other questionable 
discipline policies are not evidence based, and, as such, would not be 
considered a proper use of grant funds.

  STOP School Violence program grants are not intended to be used to 
discipline students. Instead, threat assessment intervention protects 
potential victims and addresses the underlying problems to make schools 
safe for everyone. Finally, studies on evidence-based school threat 
assessment intervention practices have shown that these programs 
actually decrease racial profiling, bullying, suicides, and 
suspensions.
  I am proud of the bipartisan work that has gone into this bill, and 
once we have taken this step--this astonishingly modest yet important 
first step--we must finally do our jobs and work together to make 
meaningful changes toward stopping the epidemic of gun violence in this 
country. I know that this does not go far enough in terms of what we 
need to do. I understand that. I believe it deeply. But it is an 
important, bipartisan step that we should take today.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Comer).
  Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, I joined my colleagues 
from the Kentucky delegation here on the House floor to lead a moment 
of silence for the victims of a tragic school shooting at Marshall 
County High School in my district in Kentucky on January 23.
  Today I am proud to rise in support of the STOP School Violence Act, 
which I believe will be a critical step forward in preventing future 
school shootings like the tragedies we witnessed in Marshall County, 
Kentucky, and, of course, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 
Parkland, Florida.

                              {time}  1330

  In the wake of the Marshall County shooting, I heard from the 
families of victims and other members of the community that their top 
priority was enhancing physical security, whether that means installing 
metal detectors, hiring school resource officers, or making other 
evidence-based improvements to prevent and mitigate school violence.
  This bill will provide resources to schools so that they can do just 
that while also supporting training for students, teachers, and local 
law enforcement to identify and prevent violence in our schools.
  The Marshall County community is resilient. As we continue to mourn 
the loss of two young lives in our community along with those in 
Parkland, we will also fight to protect our students, educators, and 
communities. I believe the STOP School Violence Act will help defend 
our schools from those who wish to inflict harm on others, and I urge 
my colleagues to support this important and bipartisan bill.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining 
on each side.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Virginia has 8 minutes 
remaining. The gentleman from New York has 9 minutes remaining.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Bost).
  Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4909, 
the STOP School Violence Act, which includes my bipartisan legislation 
to increase access to emergency panic buttons in the classroom.
  I want to thank Mr. Rutherford for his bill before us today, and my 
friend from Illinois (Mr. Schneider) for partnering with me on the 
school safety language we had included in this bill.
  As a father and a grandfather, I know firsthand how important it is 
that our Nation's children have a safe environment to grow and learn. 
As a former first responder, I know that response time is vitally 
important during any emergency situation. This bill makes it much 
easier for schools to increase their security and provide lifesaving 
technology to contact first responders immediately when violence or any 
other emergency occurs.
  We already have panic buttons to protect our investments at our 
banks. Well, there is no greater investment in the country than our 
children. We should be doing the best to protect them, too, and this 
legislation is a step in the right direction.

[[Page H1563]]

  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), the ranking member of the Crime, Terrorism, 
Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished ranking 
member, the chairman of the committee, and the proponents of this bill. 
I acknowledge their commitment and certainly their sincerity.
  Mr. Speaker, I joined the thousands of young people today on the west 
side of the Capitol as they came from schools throughout this region to 
stand for 17 minutes to acknowledge those who lost their lives in 
Florida at a high school.
  That should not have been their destiny. It should not have been 
their destiny to die in a bloody massacre in their school. It should 
not have been the destiny of those in the Pulse nightclub, Sutherland 
Springs, Columbine, Las Vegas, Texas Tech, the streets of Houston in my 
district, Chicago, or any other place.
  This bill is not about preventing the unsafe use of guns. Guns kill. 
The young people today made it very clear that they will not stop until 
we have real gun safety legislation barring the AR-15 and we have 
universal background checks.
  At the same time, I believe these bills of our colleagues are 
important legislative initiatives. So, in tribute to these individuals 
who have passed, but also the Members, I believe the STOP School 
Violence Act of 2017 is a ready response to aspects of school safety 
and security that are very important.
  One of the unique aspects of this bill that I think should be noted 
is the language in the bill itself that indicates it is through 
evidence-based strategies and programs to prevent violence, which may 
include the use of appropriate technologies. The bill readily 
acknowledges many aspects of school safety.
  The AFT and the National School Boards Association are two of the 
supporters of this legislation. But it does not answer totally the 
question of the parent who said: ``I didn't get a chance that morning 
to say good-bye to my daughter.''
  We must address the question of gun violence. I believe it is 
important that we put a stop to children evacuating schools, like this 
one, and for us to be able to address a real, nonpartisan, bipartisan 
response to the proliferation of guns, whether it means enforcing gun 
laws, lifting the age to 21, or banning bump stocks, all points we 
thought the President was supporting but, unfortunately, he is not.
  I do want to raise the point of the tip line. I think it is extremely 
important, as long as it is guided by teachers, counselors, and mental 
health experts. We must be very sure that we do not have racial 
disparities where the largest percentage of individuals impacted by the 
tip line may be African-American youth, Hispanic youth, or Muslim 
youth.
  We know that racial disparities are real because the largest 
percentage of those who are sent to detention or juvenile centers 
happen to be African-American children, young boys and girls, which I 
really believe is something that has to stop.
  In addition, it is important that we comply with civil rights law. I 
think the advocates of civil rights organizations like the Legal 
Defense Fund are absolutely right. There must be a standard where the 
civil rights of these children are not violated on this tip line and 
that due process is provided for them.
  We must make a statement here today that, as we support this 
legislation, we do not intend to support legislation that we skew to be 
biased toward these young people. These young people in impoverished 
neighborhoods and schools, Mr. Speaker, deserve to learn as well. But 
we want safe schools. Those safe schools can be had with the beginning 
of this infrastructure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman from Texas has 
expired.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from Texas an 
additional 30 seconds.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. We can begin with this question of school safety and 
a tip line and best evidence and best practices. We can begin with 
grants to ensure the safety of our schools. We can allow schools to 
make choices about what will make them more safe.
  At the same time, we must safeguard our children and their rights. We 
must answer the cry of the children. We will not finish our task until 
we have real gun safety legislation.
  Enough is enough. It is time to act now. I need my Republican 
brothers and sisters to work with me.
  Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the Legal Defense 
and Education Fund and a news article published in the New York on 
March 13, 2018.

                                           NAACP Legal Defense and


                                       Educational Fund, Inc.,

                                   Washington, DC, March 12, 2018.
     Re H.R. 4909, the STOP School Violence Act of 2018.

     Hon. Paul Ryan,
     Speaker, House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
     Minority Leader, House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Speaker Ryan and Leader Pelosi: On behalf of the NAACP 
     Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), we write to 
     express our concerns with H.R. 4909, the Student, Teachers, 
     and Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018 (the STOP 
     School Violence Act or Act). This bill will fail to achieve 
     its goal of improving school safety and will instead create 
     more dangerous conditions for students, especially students 
     of color.
       Founded in 1940 by Thurgood Marshall, LDF is the nation's 
     oldest civil rights law organization. For almost 80 years, 
     LDF has relied on the Constitution and federal and state 
     civil rights laws to pursue equality and justice for African 
     Americans and other people of color. Since the historic U.S. 
     Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which 
     LDF litigated and won, we have continued to represent 
     students of color to ensure they receive quality and 
     equitable educational opportunities.
       Unfortunately, we all have too much experience dealing with 
     the aftermath of school shootings. After the incidents in 
     Columbine, CO and Sandy Hook, CT, families, school districts, 
     and lawmakers took a variety of actions intended to prevent 
     future tragedies. In studying these actions and their 
     consequences, we can see which efforts work, and which do 
     not. The STOP School Violence Act does not do enough to 
     ensure that effective methods that protect all students are 
     used by our nation's schools and risks furthering racial 
     disparities in education.
       The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret 
     Service have published a guide (the ED/SS Guide) to 
     maintaining safe schools, recommending the following steps:
       1. Systematically surveying students, teachers, and other 
     stakeholders about the emotional climate of a school to be 
     able to continuously assess and improve school climate;
       2. Encouraging students and teachers to respectfully listen 
     to each other;
       3. Ensuring that students feel comfortable speaking with 
     adults in the school community;
       4. Preventing and addressing bullying through promotion of 
     pro-social behaviors;
       5. Involving students and staff in the maintenance of a 
     culture of safety and respect;
       6. Ensuring all students have a trusting relationship with 
     at least one adult at school; and
       7. Creating mechanisms for developing and maintaining safe 
     school climates.
       The ED/SS guide emphasizes that safe and secure school 
     environments are created only through focusing on maintaining 
     a respectful and supportive school environment where 
     students' emotional and academic needs are met, with things 
     like effective threat assessment only a small part. These 
     recommendations are supported by other experts.
       To effectively make schools safer, the STOP Schools Act 
     should provide grants to states and districts to help 
     cultivate these positive environments. To do this, the Act 
     should focus on expanding resources, such as school 
     counselors, mental health services, social workers, and 
     proven programs, such as Positive Behavioral Interventions 
     and Supports (PBIS) and restorative practices, and prohibit 
     assigning law enforcement to schools. Instead, the Act 
     provides grants to states and school districts to improve 
     school security by providing training to prevent student 
     violence, including for law enforcement officers, school 
     personnel, and students; developing and operating anonymous 
     reporting systems for threats of school violence; developing 
     and operating school threat assessment and intervention teams 
     that may include coordination with law enforcement agencies 
     and school personnel, and specialized training for school 
     officials in responding to mental health crises; coordinating 
     with law enforcement; using metal detectors, locks, lighting, 
     and other deterrent measures; implementing security 
     assessments and training; installing technology for expedited 
     notification of law enforcement during an emergency; and 
     taking ``any other measures that . . . may provide a 
     significant improvement in security.'' These provisions are 
     only a small part of the strategy that experts recommend for 
     maintaining safe school environments, and as written,

[[Page H1564]]

     the provisions have a high risk of exacerbating race-based 
     disparities in how students are treated by school police and 
     staff.
       The Act's language regarding coordination with law 
     enforcement and allowing any measures that ``may'' provide 
     more security will allow school districts to use the grant 
     funding to increase law enforcement presence rather than on 
     evidence-based interventions. Research has shown that having 
     more police in schools does not make schools safer, but, 
     results in an increasing number of students being led from 
     schools to the justice system. Although Black and Latinx 
     students do not misbehave more than White students, students 
     of color make up over 58% of school-based arrests, but only 
     40% of public school enrollment. Black students are more than 
     twice as likely as their White peers to be referred to law 
     enforcement or arrested at school. Additionally, research 
     shows that police officers perceive Black youth as older and 
     more culpable than they do similarly-situated White youth, 
     and this bias leads to the over-criminalization of Black 
     students. Furthermore, the presence of police in schools 
     makes Black students and students who have been victims feel 
     less safe, which would negatively affect school climate.
       To address these disparities, a clause should be added to 
     the Act requiring that data be collected on any activities 
     undertaken with grant funding to determine whether they are 
     disproportionately affecting students of color or other at-
     risk groups. Any districts that are discriminating against 
     students should not receive federal funding.
       Moreover, the Act's anonymous reporting system does not 
     have prescribed due process or civil rights protections and 
     could lead to more racial disparities in how students are 
     treated at school. As the ED/SS Guide cautions, anonymous 
     systems could lead to individuals reporting false and 
     malicious information. It will be an easy vehicle for 
     students or staff who hold implicit or explicit biases 
     against students of color to report those students as being a 
     danger to themselves or others based on discriminatory 
     reasons. In order to protect students, the tip system should 
     be implemented as recommended in the guide: it should be 
     housed within a wider system of trust amongst students and 
     staff so that all feel comfortable filing reports and 
     providing any required additional information in assessing 
     threats. In addition, the communications should be tracked 
     and data disaggregated and assessed for racial disparities in 
     threat reporting.
       Finally, the STOP Violence Act does not restrict its 
     funding to public schools and does not state that all 
     recipients of funds must comply with existing civil rights 
     laws. The Act should include a statement that any school 
     receiving funds under this Act complies with all federal law, 
     including civil rights laws protecting students on the bases 
     of race, color, national origin; sex; disability; and age.
       All students deserve to attend safe and welcoming schools, 
     and we encourage you to provide states and districts with 
     additional resources to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, the 
     STOP School Violence Act as currently written will not 
     improve school safety and will risk further harm to students 
     who are already disserved by the system. Thank you for 
     considering this letter. If you have any questions, please 
     contact us.
           Respectfully submitted,
     Todd A. Cox,
       Director of Policy.
     Monique L. Dixon,
       Deputy Director of Policy.
     Nicole Dooley,
       Policy Counsel.
                                  ____


                [From the New York Times, Mar. 13, 2018]

  Trump Finds Unlikely Culprit in School Shootings: Obama Discipline 
                                Policies

                          (By Erica L. Green)

       Washington.--After a gunman marauded through Marjory 
     Stoneman Douglas High School last month, conservative 
     commentators--looking for a culprit--seized on an unlikely 
     target: an Obama-era guidance document that sought to rein in 
     the suspensions and expulsions of minority students.
       Black students have never been the perpetrators of the mass 
     shootings that have shocked the nation's conscience nor have 
     minority schools been the targets. But the argument went that 
     any relaxation of disciplinary efforts could let a killer 
     slip through the cracks.
       And this week, President Trump made the connection, 
     announcing that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will lead a 
     school safety commission charged in part with examining the 
     ``repeal of the Obama administration's `Rethink School 
     Discipline' policies.''
       To civil rights groups, connecting an action to help 
     minority students with mass killings in suburban schools 
     smacked of burdening black children with a largely white 
     scourge.
       ``Yet again, the Trump administration, faced with a 
     domestic crisis, has responded by creating a commission to 
     study an unrelated issue in order to ultimately advance a 
     discriminatory and partisan goal,'' said Sherrilyn Ifill, the 
     president and director-counsel at NAACP Legal Defense and 
     Educational Fund Inc.
       ``School shootings are a grave and preventable problem, but 
     rescinding the school discipline guidance is not the 
     answer,'' she said. ``Repealing the guidance will not stop 
     the next school shooter, but it will ensure that thousands 
     more students of color are unnecessarily ushered into the 
     school-to-prison pipeline.''
       The issue of the Obama-era discipline guidance was raised 
     formally by Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, who, 
     after seeing a flurry of conservative news media reports, 
     wrote a letter to Ms. DeVos and Attorney General Jeff 
     Sessions questioning whether the guidance allowed the 
     shooting suspect, Nikolas Cruz, to evade law enforcement and 
     carry out the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High.
       It was, on its face, an odd point: Mr. Cruz is white, and 
     far from evading school disciplinary procedures, he had been 
     expelled from Stoneman Douglas.
       ``The overarching goals of the 2014 directive to mitigate 
     the school-to-prison pipeline, reduce suspensions and 
     expulsions, and to prevent racially biased discipline are 
     laudable and should be explored,'' Mr. Rubio wrote, asking 
     that the guidance be revised. ``However, any policy seeking 
     to achieve these goals requires basic common sense and an 
     understanding that failure to report troubled students, like 
     Cruz, to law enforcement can have dangerous repercussions.''
       Broward County educators and advocates saw Mr. Rubio's 
     letter as an indictment of a program called Promise, which 
     the county instituted in 2013--one year before the Obama 
     guidance was issued--and has guided its discipline reforms to 
     reduce student-based arrests in Broward County, where 
     Stoneman Douglas is.
       The N.A.A.C.P. said that Mr. Rubio ``notably backs away 
     from raising the purchase age for assault-style rifles and 
     restricting magazine capacity,'' and instead focuses on a 
     system that once sent one million minority students to 
     Florida jails for ``simple and routine discipline issues 
     ranging from talking back to teachers to schoolyard 
     scuffles.''
       The program was praised by former Secretary of Education 
     Arne Duncan, and echoes the goals of the 2014 Obama guidance 
     in discouraging schools from using law enforcement as a first 
     line of defense for low-level offenses.
       In the days before making his request, Mr. Rubio released a 
     proposal that he said would remedy lapses in the Promise 
     program and the 2014 guidance.
       In a tweet on Tuesday, Mr. Rubio noted that the gunman was 
     not in the Promise program, but had displayed violent and 
     threatening behavior.
       ``The more we learn, the more it appears the problem is not 
     the program or the DOE guidance itself, but the way it is 
     being applied,'' Mr. Rubio said, referring to the Education 
     Department. ``It may have created a culture discourages 
     referral to law enforcement even in egregious cases like the 
     #Parkland shooter.''
       Long before the attack in Parkland, Fla., the 2014 
     discipline guidelines, which encouraged schools to examine 
     their discipline disparities and to take stock of 
     discriminatory policies, were already on Ms. DeVos's radar--
     but not because they were seen as a possible culprit in the 
     next school shooting. Conservatives were using the Trump 
     administration's effort to rein in federal overreach to 
     reverse policies designed to protect against what the Obama 
     administration had seen as discriminatory practices.
       The ``Rethink Discipline,'' package that Mr. Trump's 
     commission will examine includes guidance that the Obama 
     administration issued on the legal limitations on the use of 
     restraints and seclusion, corporal punishment and equity for 
     special education students.
       In recent months, educators and policy experts from across 
     the country have traveled to Washington to voice support for 
     and opposition to the disciplinary guidance, in private 
     meetings with officials at the Education Department and in a 
     series of public forums.
       At a briefing hosted by the United States Commission on 
     Civil Rights, dozens of policy experts, researchers, 
     educators and parents sounded off on the Obama-era discipline 
     policy in a meeting that became so racially charged that some 
     black attendees walked out.
       Since the discipline guidelines were issued, conservatives 
     have blamed the document for creating unsafe educational 
     environments by pressuring schools to keep suspension numbers 
     down to meet racial quotas, even if it meant ignoring 
     troubling and criminal behavior. Teachers who sought 
     suspensions or expulsions of minority students were painted 
     as racists, conservatives maintained.
       ``Evidence is mounting that efforts to fight the school-to-
     prison pipeline is creating a school climate catastrophe and 
     has if anything put at-risk students at greater risk,'' said 
     Max Eden, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan 
     Institute, who argued that teacher bias was not the driving 
     force behind school discipline.
       But proponents argued that racial bias was well documented.
       When the guidance was issued, federal data found that 
     African-American students without disabilities were more than 
     three times as likely as their white peers without 
     disabilities to be expelled or suspended, and that more than 
     50 percent of students who were involved in school-related 
     arrests or who were referred to law enforcement were Hispanic 
     or African-American.
       ``Children's safety also includes protection from 
     oppression and bigotry and injustice,'' Daniel J. Losen, 
     director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the 
     University of California at Los Angeles's Civil Rights 
     Project, wrote in testimony to the Civil Rights Commission. 
     ``Fear-mongering and rhetoric that criminalizes youth of 
     color,

[[Page H1565]]

     children from poor families and children with disabilities 
     should not be tolerated.''
       The Education and Justice Departments wrote in a 2014 Dear 
     Colleague letter that discipline disparities could be caused 
     by a range of factors, but the statistics in the federal data 
     ``are not explained by more frequent or more serious 
     misbehavior by students of color.'' The departments also 
     noted that several civil rights investigations had verified 
     that minority students were disciplined more harshly than 
     their white peers for the same infractions.
       ``In short, racial discrimination in school discipline is a 
     real problem,'' the guidance said.
       In recent months, Ms. DeVos has said change will be coming. 
     She has already moved to rescind a regulation that protects 
     against racial disparities in special education placements. 
     Her goal, she said last month, was to be ``sensitive to all 
     of the parties involved.''
       In a bruising interview on ``60 Minutes'' on Sunday, Ms. 
     DeVos said that the disproportionate discipline issue ``comes 
     down to individual kids.'' She declined to say whether she 
     believed that black students disciplined more harshly for the 
     same infraction were the victims of institutional racism.
       ``We're studying it carefully and are committed to making 
     sure students have opportunity to learn in safe and nurturing 
     environments,'' she said.
       Ms. DeVos's office for civil rights also announced that it 
     would scale back the scope of investigations, reversing an 
     approach taken under the Obama administration to conduct 
     exhaustive reviews of school districts' practices and data 
     when a discrimination complaint was filed.
       But Ms. DeVos's own administration has continued to find 
     racial disparities. In November, the Education Department 
     found that the Loleta Union Elementary School District in 
     California doled out harsher treatment to Native American 
     students than their white peers. For example, a Native 
     American student received a one-day out-of-school suspension 
     for slapping another student on the way to the bus, in what 
     was that student's first disciplinary referral of the year. A 
     white student received lunch detention for slapping two 
     students on the same day--the student's fifth and sixth 
     referrals that year.
       While Mr. Cruz was repeatedly kicked out of class and 
     ultimately expelled, it is unclear whether he was ever 
     referred to the police for his behavior in school. However, 
     Mr. Cruz was known to law enforcement, which never found 
     cause to arrest him, and a report of troublesome behavior to 
     the F.B.I. went unheeded.
       The Broward County superintendent, Robert Runcie, said that 
     Mr. Rubio's effort to connect the district's discipline 
     policies to the Stoneman Douglas shooting was misguided.
       ``We're not going to dismantle a program that's been 
     successful in the district because of false information that 
     someone has put out there,'' Mr. Runcie said on Twitter. ``We 
     will neither manage nor lead by rumors.''

  Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on H.R. 4909, the ``STOP School Violence 
Act of 2017.''
  This important bipartisan legislation comes before us today on the 
one month anniversary of a senseless and tragic school massacre, which 
claimed 17 lives.
  On February 14, 2018 our world lost Alyssa Alhadeff, Martin Duque, 
Nicholas Dworet, Jaime Guttenberg, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina 
Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, 
Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup, and Peter Wang.
  Also lost, were three coaches: Chris Hixon, Aaron Feis, and Scott 
Beigel, who was also a biology teacher.
  Today, in their honor, you, the students organized a nationwide 
school walkout for gun violence prevention. Parkland wants to go down 
in history as more than just survivors. We in Congress can help make 
that happen.
  I was proud to stand in solidarity with you all this morning, hand-
in-hand as you were armed with passion and vision; unapologetic about 
your stance on these issues as you continue to display your advocacy as 
bold, relentless and engaged leaders of our future.
  Mr. Speaker, they want universal background checks, and sensible 
legislation that will curtail gun violence, thereby, keeping guns out 
of their schools and out of the hands of those that threaten to take 
lives and wreak havoc in our churches, theatres, concerts and schools.
  ``When will it all stop,'' they asked. We too in Congress must 
evaluate ourselves and ask: when will we respond adequately?
  My heart goes out to students and parents all across America who find 
themselves routinely faced with these tragic incidents of great 
proportion; from Columbine to Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and Parkland; 
and our cities like Chicago, Baltimore and the rest of America.
  These are the faces of our children as they were leaving Marjory 
Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after the Valentine's 
Day deadly shooting.
  ``I didn't get a chance that morning to say goodbye to my daughter, 
but I'm here today to make sure that I'm one of the last fathers that 
ever has to bury their daughter or son or loved one from a senseless 
act of violence in a school,'' said Ryan Petty, whose daughter Alaina 
Petty was among the 17 killed.
  Mr. Petty, I hear you. I agree with my colleagues, that school safety 
is paramount and that is why I signed onto this bill following the 
Parkland school shooting.
  This bill is not perfect and I will address my concerns. But it is a 
good first step.
  As Ranking Member of the Judiciary Crime Subcommittee, I caution any 
measure that could adversely impact our constitutional rights.
  Had this bill went through regular order, I would have amended it 
with a clause that would prescribe due process or civil rights 
protections in the anonymous reporting system. This would allow the 
accused with notice and an opportunity to respond with representation.
  As written, this bill is amenable to abuse where false and malicious 
information can be reported by any staff or student who may have a bias 
against the accused but alarmingly, the accused has no avenue for a 
remedy in defending him/herself.
  I want to ensure that the current race-based disparities in how 
students are treated by school police and staff are not further 
exacerbated by this bill as written.
  H.R. 4909 provides that there be coordination with law enforcement in 
providing security, which will increase law enforcement presence in 
schools rather than use evidence-based interventions.
  I would like to add to this bill, a clause requiring that data be 
collected of any activities undertaken with grant funding to determine 
whether they are disproportionately affecting students of color or 
other at-risk groups.
  Research has shown, when law enforcement engage minority students, 
there is a high likelihood of increasing the `schoolhouse to jailhouse' 
track.
  Students of color make up over 58% of school-based arrests, but only 
% of public school enrollment. A judicious approach is therefore 
warranted in implementing this bill.
  Finally, any recipient of federal grants should be required to comply 
with all federal laws, including civil rights laws protecting students 
based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and 
age.
  In our quest for school safety we must always exercise due care in 
balancing a benefit against the backdrop of our civil liberties so that 
we do not repeat incidents like North Carolina, where a young girl was 
grabbed around the neck with one arm, by school resources officer 
gripping her arm with his other hand and flipping her backward out of 
her chair.
  I stand firm with students everywhere because they ``all'' are the 
future of America. And standing with them all no matter where they are 
from is a net positive for us all.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis).
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I know I am not supposed 
to be able to recognize people in the gallery because it is a breach of 
the House rules, so I won't mention to the viewers that there are a lot 
of students in the gallery today seeing the political process at work.
  This is an opportunity for everyone to get to understand what it 
means to affect public policy in this great country. We are glad. We 
want to hear more from students throughout this Nation about what they 
think our government can do to make this country better.
  I just want to come here to talk about today being exactly a month 
since a parent's worst nightmare came true for many in Parkland, 
Florida: the school they send their kids to was attacked.
  This issue is personal for me, as a parent and also as somebody who 
has experienced gun violence on a baseball field less than a year ago. 
I think about the same fear, the same smells, sounds, and now the same 
healing process that those survivors will be going through. But I can 
only imagine how processing those things as a teenager feels or the 
pain that their parents, especially those who lost a child that day, 
are feeling right now.
  I believe the only reason all of us on that baseball field are still 
here today is because we had someone there who was protecting us and 
firing back. Boy, did David Bailey, Crystal Griner, and the Alexandria 
Police fire back.
  That doesn't mean I believe all schools need the same kind of 
security measures, but I do believe all of our schools need to look 
closely at their security protocols and policies, and Congress should 
help them make the changes that they deem necessary.
  There wasn't just one failure on February 14, and as such, there 
can't be just one solution. This bill is one part of addressing this 
issue, and it is something we can and should do right now.

[[Page H1566]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 
seconds.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. This week, I met with Central A&M High 
School in my district to discuss school safety and what they need to 
make schools more secure. Following the tragedy at Parkland, they sent 
a letter to parents and students. It had a line that stood out to me, 
``Safety is everybody's responsibility.''
  They are right. Let's pass the STOP School Violence Act. It is only 
part of the solution. There are other issues we still need to address. 
But if you believe in helping to make our schools safer, you should 
vote for this bipartisan bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are advised not to refer to 
occupants of the gallery, under the House rules.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, in the course of my coming over to the 
floor, we heard a comment, which I intend to check, of an accidental 
discharge of a firearm by a resource officer in a school in Virginia. 
The gun went off.
  I just want to conclude by saying that we have brought people 
together in that nothing in this bill will allow for Federal funds to 
be used in these grants for the arming of teachers. I think the AFT has 
evidenced their support for that.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I have one speaker remaining, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, today, young people across the country are taking a 
stand and calling upon this Congress to do something about the scourge 
of gun violence that has terrorized our schools and streets for too 
long. This bill fails to do so, and it should not and cannot be our 
only response to these demands.
  We must make schools safer. But the best way to do that is to do more 
to prevent gun violence from occurring in the first place. Congress 
must do more to stop gun violence. Congress should pass an assault 
weapons ban. Congress should pass an effective background check. 
Congress should ban high-capacity magazines.
  Congress should do a lot more. It is not enough to say that staff and 
students must do more to protect themselves. Mr. Speaker, it is time to 
take decisive action to stop gun violence in our communities.
  You are faced with a simple choice, Mr. Speaker: Will you stand with 
these young people who are demanding action or will you stand with the 
NRA and be complicit in the continuing violence in our schools and in 
our streets?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the 
gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks).
  Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his 
leadership, and I thank the Members who have come before us today to 
speak about their experiences, like my colleague who suffered from a 
horrific act of gun violence last year.
  I also want to speak on behalf of the thousands of students who stood 
up all around the country. They have asked us to take action to address 
gun violence.
  Our children do deserve to be safe while they are at school, to feel 
safe and to be safe. I am the mother of a teacher, sister of a teacher, 
and daughter of a new teacher. We want our schools to be safe.
  We in this country have focused on violence in our communities for a 
very long time. When I was deputy mayor of Indianapolis in the late 
nineties, we were very focused on reducing gun violence and homicides 
of all kinds in the city of Indianapolis.

                              {time}  1345

  Later, as U.S. attorney in the southern district of Indiana, I led 
what was called Project Safe Neighborhoods, which I understand that 
Attorney General Sessions is reinvigorating to reduce the gun violence 
in all of our communities, which includes our schools.
  As our colleague from Florida just said, this is a very complex 
problem. This is something that we have been paying attention to for 
many years and, in fact, decades. It is going to take complex 
solutions, but this bill is a very important part of the solution.
  In fact, last year, my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce 
Committee worked to enact 21st Century Cures Act, which included a 
number of mental health provisions. One of those reforms ensured that 
State and local governments can use grant funding from the Department 
of Justice to develop and operate school-based mental health crisis 
intervention teams. Today we will reauthorize that Department of 
Justice program for another 10 years with this bill.
  I read this morning in The Indianapolis Star, the new movement about 
walk up, not just walk out. It is important for students and everybody 
to walk up to those people who they have concerns about in their 
schools or those people who are lonely, and those people who need help 
or who just need a friend.
  The STOP School Violence Act authorizes $75 million in annual funding 
to support increased security and training and increase the use of 
anonymous reporting systems. In one school in my district, over 100 
tips were sent into that school system with the anonymous reporting on 
the night of the Parkland shooting, and teachers worked around the 
clock on shifts all night to run down all of those tips. That is what 
is critically important, that people continue to report and that law 
enforcement working with school officials continue to investigate.
  These tips come from outside the school. They come from inside the 
school. This is critically important. They come from social media. They 
come from conversations. It is important to share. This bill increases 
the amount of funding that can go to schools for anonymous reporting 
systems. That is just one of the things it does.
  This bill will add more resources. It is not enough. I am not saying 
that it is enough. It is one of the many steps. In fact, in this 
appropriations bill, I want to encourage my colleagues on the 
Appropriations Committee to continue to increase funding for school 
safety and mental health programs in the omnibus bill and in budgets 
going forward.
  We know this bill is one important step. I want to applaud one of my 
colleagues, Sheriff Rutherford, a Member from Florida. He and another 
Member from Florida introduced this bill 1 week before the shooting. 
They, along with many colleagues, have focused on school security for 
many years. We do have to do more. This is an important step. It is a 
critical step. And when men like Sheriff Rutherford have devoted his 
life to protecting and serving his community and his schools in his 
community, we need to listen to him.
  This is a very important step. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.'' 
We will not stop. We have heard the young people. We have heard their 
families. We are going to continue to listen. We will continue to fight 
for safety in schools in our communities.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, 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. Goodlatte) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4909, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________