[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 212 (Wednesday, December 8, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9003-S9004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NOMINATION OF RACHAEL S. ROLLINS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on one final matter, the national 
murder rate just recorded its biggest jump in more than a century. In 
some cities, homicides have set alltime records. From Albuquerque to 
Milwaukee, Memphis to Des Moines, city officials reported more murders 
last year than in any prior year. In my hometown of Louisville, 
homicides this year have now broken last year's alltime record.

[[Page S9004]]

  All last year, liberal politicians and activists made absurd and 
false claims about law enforcement. Here are some of them: ``We need to 
completely dismantle'' local police. Here is another one: ``Policing in 
our country is inherently and intentionally racist.''
  A leftwing messaging campaign has spent a year and a half trying to 
chill law enforcement and policing. A network of liberal district 
attorneys around the country is matching their rhetoric with incredibly 
soft-on-crime practices behind the scenes, and the predictable result 
of all this has been a collapse--a collapse--in public safety.
  For example, last month a man killed six people and injured dozens 
more at a Christmas market in Wisconsin--listen to this--just weeks 
after he was released on bail for another set of violent charges. This 
criminal had already been arrested and locked up in neighboring 
Milwaukee County, but he was let out by a liberal DA who remarked 
several years ago:

       Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into 
     treatment program, who's going to go out and kill somebody? 
     You bet. Guaranteed. It's guaranteed to happen. It does not 
     invalidate the overall approach.

  Stunning. There are now a whole bunch of grieving families in this 
Wisconsin city who have strong feelings about that ``approach.''
  Here is a headline from New York City just this week:

       Man busted for assault set free, allegedly beats two random 
     [New York City] women--then cut loose again.

  Smash-and-grabs, flash mob thefts, and carjackings are increasingly 
facts of life in multiple major cities, but against this backdrop, 
Democrats just want to keep getting weaker on crime and softer on 
public safety.
  We expect a vote today on the nomination of Rachael Rollins to be 
U.S. attorney for Massachusetts. Ms. Rollins has spent years in her 
current job as a DA pushing the idea that the State should wipe entire 
categories of crimes off the list of things worth prosecuting. She 
would rather her office not go after trespassers, shoplifters, or even 
those found possessing drugs with intent to distribute. This soft-on-
crime advocacy should have earned the nominee a pink slip. Instead, 
President Biden is giving her a promotion.
  I would urge all Senators to vote no. Law-abiding Americans don't 
want prosecutors who refuse to prosecute. They don't want city jails 
equipped with revolving doors. And they need leaders who will defend 
the rule of law.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington.

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