[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 25, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1331-S1332]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Law Enforcement

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, Leader Schumer said since last week that 
he intends to introduce a resolution purporting to support law 
enforcement.
  In 2020, ``defund the police'' became the rallying cry of the radical 
left. Every day for the next 2 years, officers reported to duty despite 
a campaign saying that they didn't deserve money for even bulletproof 
vests; and 1,146 of those officers died protecting Americans. I don't 
remember Democrats taking to this floor to defend law enforcement back 
then. Instead, they blocked resolutions that condemned attacks against 
officers.
  By April of 2021, antipolice protests and Democrat silence were all 
but routine. And we know what happened: Police morale plummeted.

[[Page S1332]]

  Still, officers rushed toward danger that those of us in Congress 
should thank God that we never have to face. Iowa Sergeant Jim Smith 
was one of those officers. On a Friday night in April 2021, he got a 
call for backup. It took him to the house of Michael Lange. Lange had 
just assaulted another police officer and barricaded himself inside 
with a shotgun.
  Sergeant Smith led the entry team. They had just cleared the basement 
and were about to reach the main floor when Lange ambushed them. Lange 
fired two shots into Sergeant Smith's chest. Then he gloated to the 
other officers, and this is what he said:

       I'll kill you like I killed your buddy.

  All Sergeant Smith ever wanted was to be a police officer. When the 
antipolice rioters came, he and his tactical team guarded the Iowa 
State Capitol. They were spat on and insulted. They had frozen water 
bottles and rocks thrown at them. But they held the line. And when the 
time came, Sergeant Smith laid down his life holding a thin blue thin.
  He never got to see this pro-FBI resolution. He didn't witness the 
uptick in police popularity as blue cities descended into violent 
crime. But I would imagine that the folks who loved Officer Smith must 
be wondering where this all was back then and why the FBI seems to 
matter more than State and local officers.
  Of course, this isn't to say that there aren't good FBI employees. 
There are plenty of them. I and my Republican colleagues have made our 
support for law enforcement clear time and again. I would, however, 
like to know where our Democratic colleagues have been with respect to 
the blatant political bias in the leadership of the FBI and the 
Department of Justice.
  On March 1 of 2023, Senator Graham and I wrote to Attorney General 
Garland and Director Wray regarding the more than 130 attacks on 
Catholic churches since the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs and the 
fact that the FBI has largely failed to investigate those violent 
attacks by leftist extremist groups. Instead, as we wrote to Director 
Wray, elements of the FBI have labeled Catholics as extremists and 
lumped them together with violent White supremacists with no 
justification.
  There is nothing extreme or suspicious about worshipping God 
according to the dictates of your conscience.
  Our letter also pointed out that the Biden Department of Justice has 
aggressively targeted pro-life advocates for selective prosecution. 
This includes the Department's political prosecution of Mark Houck for 
allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. He 
had an altercation with an abortion clinic volunteer who allegedly 
verbally harassed his 12-year-old son.
  Even though local authorities declined to press charges, Mr. Houck 
was arrested--arrested at gunpoint--by the FBI in front of his 
terrified family. He was eventually found not guilty by a jury after a 
very short deliberation.
  Let's also not forget that, for many years, our Democratic colleagues 
politically weaponized the FBI against my and Senator Johnson's Biden 
family investigation. On July 13, 2020, then-Minority Leader Schumer, 
Senator Warner, then-Speaker Pelosi, and then-Chairman Schiff sent a 
letter with classified attachments to the FBI. The letter targeted the 
Grassley-Johnson Biden family investigation to try and falsely tie it 
to Russian disinformation.
  On July 16, 2020, mere days after the July 13 letter, then-Ranking 
Members Wyden and Peters wrote a letter to me and Senator Johnson 
asking for a briefing from the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force. The 
FBI did the bidding of our Democratic colleagues and briefed us, 
accordingly, on August 6, 2020.
  The contents of the FBI briefing were later leaked to the Washington 
Post, even though the FBI promised us confidentiality. The leak was 
just another act in a long line of efforts to falsely label the 
Grassley-Johnson good government oversight work as--you guessed it--
Russian disinformation.
  The Wall Street Journal editorial board hit the mark with their piece 
that they entitled ``The FBI's Dubious Briefing: Did the bureau set up 
two GOP Senators at the behest of Democrats?''
  As I noted in the last Congress, protected whistleblower disclosures 
to my office make clear that the FBI has within its possession very 
significant, very impactful, and very voluminous evidence with respect 
to potential criminal conduct by members of the Biden family. Based on 
protected whistleblower allegations, I know the FBI falsely labeled 
that evidence as Russian disinformation to bury it.
  To date, the Biden Justice Department and the FBI haven't challenged 
the accuracy of these allegations. They can't because my staff has 
independently reviewed records to support the allegations.
  And you can't forget the now-debunked Steele dossier, a document 
funded and created by Democrats and the Clinton campaign, a document 
that was actually subject to Russian disinformation. The FBI's willing 
and disastrous use of it to investigate candidate and then-President 
Trump sent our country into a tailspin for years.
  So let's not kid ourselves right here, right now, as we are talking 
about a resolution to back law enforcement. The facts bear out that it 
is our Democratic colleagues who have consistently used Federal law 
enforcement to their political benefit, and, in the process, they have 
degraded the trust the American people once placed in Federal law 
enforcement.
  Accordingly, this resolution offered by my Democratic colleagues 
reeks of political gamesmanship. It is not a serious effort. Let's 
truly honor the heroes in law enforcement and the daily sacrifices they 
make for the American people by offering more than a tone-deaf 
political resolution that further divides the country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator 
Collins and I are allowed to complete our remarks before the vote that 
is scheduled for 5:30.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.