[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 190 (Thursday, October 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7437-S7438]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Attorney General Garland

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, yesterday brought reports that 
carjackings in my hometown of Louisville were up 150 percent since 
2019, and the city's 2021 murder total is rapidly closing in on an 
alltime record that was set just last year.
  These aren't just local problems; they are national trends. Twenty-
twenty saw the homicide rate jump more than at any point in over a 
century--the worst spike in the murder rate in more than 100 years.
  The law enforcement crises don't stop there. Our southern border saw 
more illegal crossings last year than in any year on record. Yet ICE 
has made its fewest interior arrests in a decade.
  A crime epidemic and a border crisis--these are the sorts of problems 
you might expect the Nation's top law enforcement officer to face head-
on. These are the sorts of issues that should keep the Department of 
Justice up all night long. But, alas, Attorney General Garland has 
other priorities.
  The AG made waves this month with a bizarre memo that directed the 
FBI, along with DOJ's Criminal, National Security, and Civil Rights 
Divisions, to focus--now listen to this--special attention and security 
on parents--parents--who have opinions about their local school boards.
  Yesterday, under questioning from the Judiciary Committee, the 
Attorney General seemed absolutely incapable of giving a satisfactory 
explanation as to why the parents of America are his
A-1 priority; nor could he explain why this bizarre guidance came just 
days--days--after a powerful interest group sent a letter demanding 
this action.
  Actually--listen to this--the interest group has already apologized 
for the letter. They say they regret sending it. But the Attorney 
General won't budge from his shocking guidance even after the special 
interests that asked for it have backed away. Apparently, the instant 
that special interests ask the Biden administration to jump, the 
Attorney General responds: How high?
  The Attorney General insisted that all his Department is concerned 
about is ``violence and threats of violence.'' Well, of course violence 
and threats are always wrong. They are also already illegal and already 
the purview of local law enforcement.
  There is no evidence that America's concerned parents needed to be 
singled out as targets of this J. Edgar Hoover

[[Page S7438]]

act from the Feds. If Democrats at the local, State, and Federal levels 
want fewer parents--concerned parents--showing up at school board 
meetings, the solution is to stop indoctrinating the kids with crazy 
messages on the taxpayers' dime, not trying to use Federal law 
enforcement to frighten families out of their First Amendment rights.