[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 159 (Tuesday, September 15, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H4388-H4389]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     LOS ANGELES OFFICERS AMBUSHED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, just last weekend, a 31-year-
old mother and a 24-year-old man in Los Angeles were ambushed. They 
were shot at pointblank range by a coward who targeted them for no 
reason except for the uniform that they wear.
  These two police officers were attacked in the very community where 
they serve, the community that they have sworn to protect.

[[Page H4389]]

  It is hard to believe, but this story gets worse. As these two police 
officers were in the hospital fighting for their lives, protestors 
stood outside, blocking ambulance entrances and chanting: ``We hope 
they die.''
  What has become of American cities? When did this behavior become 
acceptable or even fathomable?
  This ambush demonstrates total disregard for human life. It is an 
affront to American values.
  Thankfully, by the grace of God and the skill of first responders and 
trauma medical teams, these brave police officers are expected to 
recover from their injuries. We are fortunate that they are on the 
mend, and my prayers are with them on their road to recovery.
  Frankly, this time, we truly were fortunate. This time, we expect 
that a mother will return home to her family. We expect that a young 
police officer will return to his normal life.
  Indeed, this time, we are fortunate. But what about the next time? 
Will we let this happen again?
  Mr. Speaker, as a Nation, we cannot allow this malicious and wicked 
behavior to continue. We cannot stand by as police officers are shot at 
pointblank range. We cannot stand by while protestors scream ``We hope 
they die'' at critically injured public servants. We must restore law 
and order to all American cities.
  In this Chamber, we should dispense with the Democrats' political 
games and enact commonsense, bipartisan solutions such as the JUSTICE 
Act, which was introduced by Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Pete 
Stauber, to increase police transparency and accountability while 
supporting our law enforcement community and equipping them with the 
resources that they need to safely protect our communities.
  We cannot stand on the sidelines and leave our law enforcement 
officers vulnerable to attacks. This is not the time to turn our backs 
on the police; this is not the time to dismantle the police; and this 
is definitely not the time to defund the police. We must protect the 
American people; we must restore law and order; and we must back the 
blue.

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