[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16264]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TAX CUTS SHORTCHANGE COPS PROGRAM

  (Ms. WATSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, we are now almost 3 months past the deadline 
for Congress to pass a Federal budget. At this point, it is likely that 
Congress will not pass one at all. The cause of this breakdown is the 
ongoing misguided policies of the administration which have put 
irresponsible tax cuts ahead of the programs that Americans rely on to 
move our country forward.
  One such program is COPS, or Community Oriented Policing Services. 
Since its inception, COPS has put more than 140,000 police officers on 
the streets. In Los Angeles, my hometown, that meant 240 new officers 
last year alone. But despite all of the talk about supporting local 
police, Republicans are starving the COPS program of funds. Because of 
their marriage to big tax cuts, Republicans have proposed cutting this 
vital program by over $100 million. That means about half as many new 
police on the streets next year.

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