[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 16349]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



           THE BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP GRANT ACT OF 2000

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I wanted to inform the Repubican leadership 
that the House of Representatives today passed the Bulletproof Vest 
Partnership Grant Act of 2000, H.R. 4033, by an overwhelming vote of 
413-3. I hope that the Senate will quickly follow suit and pass the 
House-passed bill and send it to the President. President Clinton has 
already endorsed this legislation to support our nation's law 
enforcement officers and is eager to sign it into law.
  Senator Campbell and I have introduced the Senate companion bill, S. 
2413. Unfortunately, someone on the other side of the aisle has a hold 
on our bill. We have been working for the past week to urge the Senate 
to pass the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000, S. 2413. 
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed our bill unanimously on June 29. 
It has been cleared by all 45 Democratic Senators.
  But it still has not passed the full Senate. This is very 
disappointing to our nation's law enforcement officers who need life-
saving bulletproof vests to protect themselves. Protecting and 
supporting our law enforcement community should not be a partisan 
issue.
  Senator Campbell and I worked together closely and successfully with 
the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the last Congress to pass 
the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 1998 into law. Senator 
Hatch is an original cosponsor this year's bill to reauthorize this 
grant program. Senators Schumer, Kohl, Thurmond, Reed, Jeffords, Robb, 
Reid, Sarbanes, Bingaman, Ashcroft, Edwards, Bunning, Cleland, 
Hutchison, and Abraham are also cosponsors of our bipartisan bill.
  But for some reason a Republican senator has a hold on this bill to 
provide protection to our nation's law enforcement officers. According 
to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more than 40 percent of the 
1,182 officers killed by a firearm in the line of duty since 1980 could 
have been saved if they had been wearing body armor. Indeed, the FBI 
estimates that the risk of fatality to officers while not wearing body 
armor is 14 times higher than for officers wearing it.
  To better protect our nation's law enforcement officers, Senator 
Campbell and I introduced the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 
1998. President Clinton signed our legislation into law on June 16, 
1998. Our law created a $25 million, 50 percent matching grant program 
within the Department of Justice to help state and local law 
enforcement agencies purchase body armor for fiscal years 1999-2001.
  In its two years of operation, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant 
Program has funded more than 180,000 new bulletproof vests for police 
officers across the country.
  The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000 builds on the 
success of this program by doubling its annual funding to $50 million 
for fiscal years 2002-2004. It also improves the program by 
guaranteeing jurisdictions with fewer than 100,000 residents receive 
the full 50-50 matching funds because of the tight budgets of these 
smaller communities and by making the purchase of stab-proof vests 
eligible for grant awards to protect corrections officers in close 
quarters in local and county jails.
  More than ever before, police officers in Vermont and around the 
country face deadly threats that can strike at any time, even during 
routine traffic stops. Bulletproof vests save lives. It is essential 
the we update this law so that many more of our officers who are 
risking their lives everyday are able to protect themselves.
  I hope this mysterious ``hold'' on the other side of the aisle will 
disappear. The Senate should pass without delay the Bulletproof Vest 
Partnership Grant Act of 2000 and sent to the President for his 
signature into law.

                          ____________________