[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]
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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.
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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.
____________________