[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 82 (Thursday, May 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2901-S2903]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      REAUTHORIZING THE BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP GRANT PROGRAM

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 
2379.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 2379) to reauthorize the Bulletproof Vest 
     Partnership Grant Program.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. LEAHY. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a 
third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill was ordered to a third reading and was read the third time.
  Mr. LEAHY. I know of no further debate on the bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate?
  Hearing none, the bill having been read the third time, the question 
is, Shall the bill pass?
  The bill (H.R. 2379) was passed.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no 
intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                               H.R. 2379

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this may seem like just a perfunctory 
thing, but I want to speak about what we just did.
  The Senate passed legislation to permanently reauthorize the 
Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program. This is the sixth time I 
have worked to reauthorize this lifesaving program since I and my 
Republican partner, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, of Colorado, 
authored the legislation to establish it more than 20 years ago.
  My role in authoring this program--and my commitment to it ever since 
as we have reauthorized it and reauthorized it--was, in part, motivated 
by a horrific incident the year before Senator Nighthorse Campbell and 
I created it.
  On August 19, 1997, a man named Carl Drega went on a killing spree 
along the Vermont and New Hampshire border. After hours of pursuit, 
Federal, State, and local law enforcement authorities in Vermont and 
New Hampshire cornered Drega, and in an ensuing exchange of gunfire, he 
was killed.
  During the shoot-out, all of the Federal law enforcement officers 
involved were wearing bulletproof vests. This includes John Pfeifer, a 
Vermonter and a

[[Page S2902]]

longtime friend. His father was one of my favorite professors in 
college, and I remember John as a child. He was seriously wounded. In 
fact, at that time, then-FBI Director Louis Freeh and his family were 
staying with us at our home in Vermont.
  We visited Officer Pfeifer, who was a U.S. Border Patrol agent, in 
the hospital. He was grievously wounded, but he survived and later 
became the Chief Patrol Agent of the sector. I have always feared--and 
I believe he agrees--that had it not been for his bulletproof vest, the 
outcome for John and his family may have been much worse.
  Some of the state and local officers involved were not that 
fortunate. Two New Hampshire state troopers were killed. They were not 
wearing bulletproof vests. I don't know whether vests would have saved 
their lives. Let us hope they would have.
  One thing I do know is that no officer should have to serve without 
having the benefit of wearing a bulletproof vest. That is what this is 
all about. I am immensely proud of this program. It is the most 
tangible support that all of us in Congress--both parties--can provide 
to our Nation's law enforcement officers.
  To this day, for far too many jurisdictions, especially rural and 
smaller agencies, vests cost too much, and they wear out too soon. This 
program fills in the gap. It has provided more than 13,000 law 
enforcement agencies with 1.35 million vests. It has saved the lives of 
countless officers, several of whom have shared their stories with the 
Judiciary Committee, here in the Senate, during previous years. In 
fact, according to the Government Accountability Office, more than 
3,000 officers' lives have been saved by vests since 1987. It makes me 
very proud to know these officers can still be with their families and 
their departments.
  Just yesterday, my office received a call from the Union City Police 
Department in Georgia. Last month, one of its officers, Jerome Turner, 
Jr.--shown in this photograph--was shot multiple times when he 
responded to a call. One round hit him directly in the chest, but it 
did not get through his bulletproof vest. When backup arrived, Officer 
Turner was lying on the ground from his other injuries. He went through 
6 hours of surgery, but he lived. His department called yesterday to 
tell me that the vest that saved his life was purchased through this 
program. Everybody in my office and I just applauded at that news.
  My staff also had a chance to talk with Officer Turner. He is still 
recovering, but he said he is happy to be home with his family--his 
family he might never have seen again. He also said what we all know to 
be true--the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program is critical to 
ensuring officers around the country can return home to their families 
after their shifts.
  Officer Turner knows a lot about this program. It turns out that he 
previously served as the chief of police in a small town in Florida, 
which is the Presiding Officer's State. He used this program to outfit 
his officers with protective vests in order to keep his officers safe 
while they were protecting us.
  This week is National Police Week. It is a time for the Nation to 
honor the many brave men and women in law enforcement who have lost 
their lives while having served their communities. That includes the 
163 officers who were lost last year--52 of them killed by gunfire. The 
fact that Congress has now passed legislation to permanently 
reauthorize this program places real meaning behind our words of 
tribute. The legislation also increases the funding for vests as, year 
after year, only a fraction of the need is met.
  This program is not now, and never has been, partisan. When we 
started, I said that I and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, of Colorado--a 
Republican--started it. I am especially grateful to Senator Lindsey 
Graham for being the lead cosponsor of both this and the last 
reauthorization.
  Last week, our bill was being considered by the Judiciary Committee. 
I have to admit I was a bit surprised and very humbled when Chairman 
Graham called up an amendment to name the program after me and when it 
then got a unanimous vote from Republicans and Democrats. I am always 
going to be thankful, for the program is personal to me, and it is 
personal, certainly, to the officers who wear these vests.
  I thank my many staff who have worked on this program for 22 years, 
including Dave Pendle, Erica Chabot, Ed Pagano, Bruce Cohen, Matt 
Virkstis, Kristine Lucius, Chan Park, David Carle, Jessica Berry, and 
many others.
  I am also thankful to the entire law enforcement community, which has 
spoken with a single voice on this issue--a single voice. In particular 
I would like to thank Chuck Canterbury, Jim Pasco, and Tim Richardson 
with the Fraternal Order of Police--all friends of mine. The FOP has 
strongly supported this program from the beginning, and has been there 
for each of the six reauthorizations.
  I would also like to thank for their support the International 
Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Association of Police 
Organizations, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Major County 
Sheriffs' Association, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the Federal 
Law Enforcement Officers Association, the National Tactical Officers 
Association, and the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Last, I would 
like to thank the sponsors of the House companion which the Senate just 
passed, Congressmen Bill Pascrell and Peter King.
  Without this legislation, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant 
Program would expire next year. Once this legislation is signed into 
law, it will never expire. It has already saved the lives of so many, 
and placed vests on the backs of well over one million officers. Now we 
know that millions more officers will be protected, and millions of 
officers like Officer Turner will be able to go home to their families.
  I wonder if the Senate would allow me to tell a story.
  When we were doing the reauthorization, I had asked a police officer 
from Pennsylvania to come and testify. He came. His parents, his wife, 
and his children sat behind him. He gave very moving testimony. He said 
the two most important things to him in life were his family and law 
enforcement. He told us about how, a short while before, he stopped a 
car at a routine traffic stop. He got out of his police car, and the 
person in the other car stepped out and fired four shots at him--point 
blank. He fell over. Others caught the person.
  He said: As I was falling, I thought I would never see my family 
again. I had a couple of cracked ribs. They came to visit me in the 
hospital. I went back home with them to their love and care. Then I 
went back to work. This is what saved me.
  He reached under the table and held up a bulletproof vest, and you 
could still see three large caliber slugs embedded in it.
  He said: Those would have been in my heart. I never would have seen 
my family, and I never would have gone back to law enforcement.
  At that time, I was the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 
After his testimony, I asked if we could have a unanimous vote to 
reauthorize. It was the fastest unanimous vote I can remember in that 
committee.
  As I said then and as I say now, this is the least Congress can do on 
behalf of our Nation's law enforcement officers. Obviously, I am proud 
to have had the legislation named after me, but I am proud of all of 
the Senators over the last 20-plus years--Republicans and Democrats--
who have supported it. I am glad we have done it. Now it will head to 
the President for his signature, and I am sure the President will sign 
it without delay.
  I see nobody else who seeks recognition.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                       Vote on Vitter Nomination

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Vitter nomination?
  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.

[[Page S2903]]

  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), 
the Senator from New York (Mrs. Gillibrand), and the Senator from 
California (Ms. Harris) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Fischer). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 52, nays 45, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 114 Ex.]

                                YEAS--52

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     McConnell
     McSally
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--45

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Jones
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Booker
     Gillibrand
     Harris
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.


                       Vote on Bulatao Nomination

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the next nomination.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Brian 
J. Bulatao, of Texas, to be an Under Secretary of State (Management).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Bulatao nomination?
  Mr. BARRASSO. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), 
the Senator from New York (Mrs. Gillibrand), and the Senator from 
California (Ms. Harris) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Young). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 92, nays 5, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 115 Ex.]

                                YEAS--92

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     McConnell
     McSally
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Paul
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--5

     Blumenthal
     Hirono
     Markey
     Sanders
     Warren

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Booker
     Gillibrand
     Harris
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.

                          ____________________