[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 9, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S583-S584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Crime

  Mr. McCONNELL. While Washington Democrats spent 2021 distracted by 
their reckless taxing-and-spending spree, violent criminals were 
preying on the American people. Millions of Americans' neighborhoods 
descended into chaos and violence around them.
  After the nationwide murder rate saw its biggest jump in more than 
100 years in 2020, at least 12 major cities set their own alltime 
homicide records in 2021. Rates of carjackings have doubled, tripled, 
and even quadrupled in major metro areas.
  My hometown of Louisville set a new alltime murder record last year 
of 188 homicides. Twenty-four of the victims were children. At one 
point last year, a staggering 65 percent of our homicides were going 
unsolved. Louisville is now averaging one carjacking every 42 hours. 
Yesterday, I hosted the FBI special agent in charge of the Louisville 
field office for a meeting here in the Capitol. We discussed these 
issues at length.
  One survey last year found that Americans believe violent crime is 
the No. 1 major crisis facing our country. More citizens called violent 
crime a major crisis than COVID. When Americans were asked about 
President Biden's handling of law enforcement and criminal justice, the 
President polls almost 20 points underwater.
  The American people know this crime wave is not some spontaneous 
event. It has been fed and fueled in multiple ways by the Democratic 
Party's far-left turn. For example, liberal activists and many elected 
Democrats have spent almost 2 years trying to smear--smear--the entire 
profession of policing with the actions of a few bad actors.
  We know that anti-police culture wars invite more crime. It is a 
fact. A prominent scholar--who, incidentally, was the youngest African-
American professor to ever get tenure at Harvard--has proven that anti-
police outcry directly results in more crime, including homicides.
  Many jurisdictions have entertained financial attacks on police 
departments to match the rhetorical attacks. Literally just yesterday, 
a prominent House Democrat insisted to the press that the far left will 
not be dropping or diluting their message of ``defund the police.''
  Meanwhile, our brave men and women in law enforcement are literally--
literally--under attack. While too many politicians take aim at our 
brave police officers in a political sense, violent criminals are 
taking aim at them in a literal sense. The number of cop killings shot 
up nearly 60 percent last year to a two-decade high.

  In Louisville, Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Brandon Shirley was 
shot and killed last summer. It is believed he was ambushed while 
wearing his uniform.
  The streets of New York City were packed full with heroes a few days 
ago as fellow officers mourned two of their colleagues who had been 
shot and killed.
  It is not just regular citizens going about their normal days who 
need this violent crime epidemic to stop; our brave men and women in 
blue also need very badly for it to stop. But, within the justice 
system, leftwing activists have insinuated themselves into 
prosecutorial roles throughout America and are making ``soft on crime'' 
actually their official policy.
  The State's attorney in Baltimore announced last year she intended to 
stop prosecuting minor drug and prostitution cases.
  New York City's new district attorney said last month he would not 
pursue charges for marijuana misdemeanors, trespassing, and resisting 
arrest, among others. After a huge backlash, he tried to walk some of 
this back.
  Chain stores like Walgreens have had to close locations in San 
Francisco because constant, unpunished theft and shoplifting have 
become a fact of life in that city.
  Another example is almost too sad and ironic for words. In Wisconsin 
last November, a repeat offender who was out on bond drove his car into 
a Christmas parade and murdered six people. His victims included an 8-
year-old child and a group of grandmothers.
  Well, one jurisdiction over in Milwaukee County has one of the most 
prominent soft-on-crime liberal prosecutors in the entire country. He 
has spent years waging a national campaign urging prosecutors to 
actually go easy on repeat criminals like this killer. A few years 
back, he even admitted soft-on-crime policies would cost innocent lives 
but said he was willing to make the trade.
  Here is what he had to say:

       Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into 
     [a] 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.

  These backward, pro-crime attitudes aren't just infecting local DAs' 
offices; they also seem to be largely defining the Biden Department of 
Justice. Rachael Rollins is the former Massachusetts DA who spent her 
last job trying to wipe entire categories of crimes off the enforcement 
rolls. This earned her a promotion to U.S. attorney from President 
Biden, which every Senate Democrat supported. There is Vanita Gupta, 
now an Associate Attorney General, who had previously advocated for 
sweeping drug decriminalization and expressed her support for efforts 
to ``decrease police budgets.'' There is Kristen Clarke, also confirmed 
by Senate Democrats to work at DOJ, who echoed calls to ``invest less 
in police.'' These are President Biden's picks to top jobs at Main 
Justice.

  I just had to place a hold on the nominee to be U.S. attorney for 
Minnesota because the person recently acting in that job recommended an 
unusually soft sentence below the minimum guideline to a convicted 
fatal arsonist because the arsonist was taking part in a far-left 
political riot at the time. I will need written assurance the nominee 
to succeed this person will not continue this jaw-dropping practice and 
lessen criminals' sentences so long as the political violence they 
commit happens to be leftwing.
  The modern Democratic Party has convinced itself that order--order--
is actually oppression and anarchy is actually compassion. This is 
totally wrong. Tolerating lawlessness and anarchy is not compassionate. 
It doesn't help vulnerable communities for politicians to passively 
watch them devolve into literal war zones. The actual residents of 
these communities know this best of all.
  Last summer, even after months of anti-police rhetoric from the left, 
when a poll asked the residents of Detroit about their concerns, almost 
five times more people said public safety than police reform. It was 
even more lopsided among African-American residents. They named public 
safety eight times more than police reform.
  Last summer, NPR interviewed a man who had committed terrible crimes 
as a young adult, served time, turned his life around, and now works 
with young men in prison. The reporter asked how he had gotten caught 
up in criminal violence. Where did his childhood veer off course?
  Here was the man's explanation--a direct quote. Here is what he said:

       It was my environment. . . . When I go outside every day, 
     as soon as I walk out my front door, I'm entering a war zone 
     . . . from sun-up to sundown, robberies and murders and 
     carjacking and extortion . . . [I] became a product of my 
     environment.

  So this man's problem was not an evil justice system that was out to 
get him; it wasn't that his neighborhood had an excess of law and 
order; the problem was a lack of--a lack of--law and order.
  It is not compassionate to let vulnerable kids grow up in war zones 
because Democrats feel bad putting violent criminals in prison, where 
they belong.
  Let me say that again. It is not compassionate to let vulnerable kids 
grow up in war zones because Democrats feel guilty putting violent 
criminals behind bars, where they belong.
  Neither is it compassionate to make innocent, law-abiding citizens 
across America live in fear because liberal public servants won't do 
their jobs.
  The answer to this crimewave isn't slashing law enforcement budgets, 
it isn't replacing cops with social workers, and it isn't far-left gun 
grabbers coming after the constitutional rights of law-abiding 
citizens. Here is the answer: Elected officials need to drop the

[[Page S584]]

soft-on-crime nonsense and give innocent American families the 
protection they deserve.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


    Recognizing the Coffeyville Community College Red Ravens Men's 
                            Basketball Team

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I rise this morning to recognize and 
congratulate the Coffeyville Community College Red Ravens men's 
basketball team on winning the 2021 National Junior College Athletic 
Association Division 1 men's basketball championship. Kansas has an 
unparalleled history of college athletes, and I am proud to recognize 
the Coffeyville Red Ravens' contribution to our State's many 
accomplishments.
  On April 24, 2021, the Coffeyville Red Ravens brought home their 
first national championship trophy in nearly six decades. As an 
underdog in the national tournament with a No. 10 ranking, this 
accomplishment is a result of hard work, determination, and grit. 
During the championship game, freshman center Blaise Keita had a career 
high of 27 points, and Tylor Perry scored 18 points. Additionally, 
Blaise, Tylor, and Love Bettis were named to the All-Tournament team.
  The honorable achievements of these players have earned rightful 
recognition for their commitment to excellence in college athletics. 
Athletics teach young men and women many valuable skills that serve 
them throughout their lives.
  These lessons and this team's accomplishment were not possible 
without the leadership of Head Coach Jay Herkelman, who has been an 
instrumental member of the Red Ravens men's basketball program for 
nearly three decades. As a coach who has shown dedication to his 
players and his team, he has earned the title of the Kansas Basketball 
Coaches Association's ``Coach of the Year'' five times. Furthermore, 
congratulations to Coach Herkelman, who is only 1 win away from 
reaching the remarkable milestone of 700 wins with the Red Ravens.
  I am pleased to have introduced a resolution with Congressman 
LaTurner and Senator Marshall on behalf of these dedicated student 
athletes, coaches, team, and school, and to have had it unanimously 
pass the U.S. Senate last week.
  Thank you to the players, the coaches, and the staff of the 
Coffeyville Community College Red Ravens men's basketball team for 
bringing this win home.
  Congratulations to all in Southeast Kansas, South Central Kansas, 
those who are students, those who are faculty, and those who lead this 
college. We are proud of their success.
  The Coffeyville community has much to take pride in this strong 
program, and I look forward to their continued success.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Heinrich). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.