[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16951-16957]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Kelly) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my honor and privilege to lead tonight's 
Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour, where we will have the 
opportunity to speak directly to the American people.
  But before we get to business, I do want to take a second, even 
though it feels like an eternity, to congratulate my dear friend and 
colleague, our CBC chairman for the 112th Congress, the Honorable 
Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City, for his hometown Kansas City Royals 
victory in last night's World Series game.
  I am an Illinoisan by way of New York. So I had a little stake in 
this one. But, again, my congratulations to the city of Kansas City and 
to Congressman Cleaver.
  Mr. Speaker, I truly do believe that it is an honor and a privilege 
to host the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour. So I speak 
to you this evening very much concerned and severely disappointed that 
we are even having tonight's topic under such circumstances.
  Tonight we are here to address saving our communities, where our 
focus for this hour will be on key legislative priorities that this 
Congress, this year's Congressional Black Caucus, and our Nation must 
confront in order to help make this union more perfect for our next 
generation.
  Mr. Speaker, this year there have been a lot of tragic episodes that 
may make one shake their head and ask what is going on.
  We have covered a number of these topics in the course of this year, 
whether it be the issue of criminal justice reform, gun violence, 
economic investment as a antidote to violence, community policing, or 
the value of Black lives in America.
  Mr. Speaker, the issues that I will cover this evening aren't Black 
Caucus issues. I know that most in this Congress and most across this 
great country would acknowledge that they are American issues.
  Falling short as a Nation on these fronts only divides us and only 
serves as a barrier to our boundless possibilities as an American 
people.
  Over the past few weeks, we heard a lot about the need to clean out 
the barn before the baton was passed from Speaker to Speaker. I think 
we made some progress in clearing out the barn last week as we passed a 
bipartisan budget agreement, which President Obama signed into law 
earlier today.
  But, Mr. Speaker, as the baton has been passed from Speaker Boehner 
to Speaker Ryan, we must keep in mind that there is still much that 
needs to be cleaned out of the barn when it comes to criminal justice 
reform, creating opportunity in vulnerable communities, addressing 
inequities in the justice system, valuing all lives, regardless of 
race, religion or sexual orientation, making sure that good cops can do 
their job in keeping communities safe, and making sure that bad cops 
don't get to be the Nation's norm.
  We must have a culture where bad cops don't have a safe haven, where 
they can't get away with violations of the public trust in communities 
they were sworn to protect, and where they aren't in a position to 
spoil the whole bunch of good cops we have protecting American 
communities.
  Mr. Speaker, tonight we will have a long and overdue conversation 
about saving our communities.
  At this time, I yield to the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
my colleague from North Carolina, Representative G. K. Butterfield.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Let me first thank you, Congresswoman Robin Kelly, 
for yielding time to me tonight. Thank you for your willingness to stay 
on the floor tonight, even though this suspension bill was placed in 
front of us tonight. We certainly understand that has that happen from 
time to time. But thank you so very much for staying on the floor to 
manage the time this evening.
  I also want to thank you, Ms. Kelly, for your extraordinary 
leadership. Thank you for what you do for the Congressional Black 
Caucus. Thank you for what you do for your constituents in Illinois. 
Most importantly, thank you for what you do for our country. It is 
certainly appreciated.
  I will certainly join you, Ms. Kelly, in congratulating the Kansas 
City Royals on their well-deserved victory. I did not watch the entire 
World Series, but I watched enough of it to know that this team was 
much deserving of this victory. And so congratulations not only to Mr. 
Cleaver, who is so proud of Kansas City and talks about his hometown 
all of the time, but congratulations to all of those fans of that great 
team.
  Tonight we are talking about the urgent need to save our communities. 
What an appropriate topic, Ms. Kelly, because communities all across 
the country are in crisis.
  I travel quite a bit across the country and visit many different 
communities not only in my State, but in many other States. I can tell 
you firsthand that communities all across our country are facing 
crises. They are facing crises in so many different respects.
  They are facing the whole issue of pervasive poverty. Poverty in 
America is real. We have more than 400 counties in the United States of 
America that have poverty rates that exceed 20 percent, and all of 
these have had poverty rates for more than 30 years greater than 20 
percent. So poverty is a critical issue in our country, and communities 
are feeling the effect of it in a significant way.
  Joblessness. Joblessness. I continue to say that the unemployment 
rate is

[[Page 16952]]

unacceptably high. Even though we have made a great improvement in the 
unemployment rate since the recession, it is still too high. For 
African American workers, it is hovering somewhere around 10 percent. 
That is unacceptable.
  We all talk from time to time and we see it all over the news today 
about police misconduct. Police misconduct is continuing to be a 
pervasive problem in so many communities.
  I'm sure tonight Mr. Bobby Scott from Virginia, who is very 
passionate about the whole issue of criminal justice reform, is going 
to talk about mass incarceration in the United States of America.
  Certainly that is a real problem, and there are many Members in this 
body who are working every day to try to craft together legislation to 
try to address the whole question of mass incarceration.
  Also, we have crumbling schools and infrastructure and highways and 
tunnels and ports. Our whole infrastructure in this country needs to be 
addressed. Hopefully, we will be able to pass a transportation bill 
before the end of the year.
  Hopefully, my friends on the other side of the aisle will not try to 
load up the transportation bill with any Ex-Im Bank riders that will be 
a poison pill that would slow down or even defeat the transportation 
bill.

                              {time}  2000

  So the point is, Ms. Kelly, that we do have an urgent need to save 
our communities. We need all hands on deck as we take on this 
challenge.
  We consistently see, Ms. Kelly, an over-criminalization of African 
Americans, specifically our youth. We see, for example, minor 
infractions that occur in the context of a classroom--yes, we have seen 
that on television over the last few days--a minor infraction in a 
classroom that escalates into an arrestable offense.
  Students, particularly those who are African American and Hispanic, 
are too frequently funneled into the justice system as a result of 
overly punitive school discipline policies and poorly defined roles for 
law enforcement in educational settings.
  Unfortunately, the school-to-prison pipeline is still a reality. When 
I first came to Congress 11 years ago, we were talking about the 
school-to-prison pipeline, and we continue to talk about it today. It 
is a reality. So we must work together to remedy this problem.
  We, as members of the Congressional Black Caucus, do not at all 
endorse what some people over the last few days have started to call 
the ``Ferguson Effect.'' Let me just elaborate on that for a moment.
  We have heard some high-ranking officials in our country refer to the 
``Ferguson Effect.'' They are suggesting in some way that an uptick in 
crime can be attributable to police inaction because of their fears of 
the ``Ferguson Effect.''
  That is so erroneous. That is so disingenuous. I wish we would 
concentrate on the problem and not try to get sidetracked on the so-
called ``Ferguson Effect.''
  The deaths of so many unarmed Black men like Michael Brown, Eric 
Garner, and Freddie Gray are all a result of a number of issues, 
including the overcriminalization of minorities and a lack of effective 
community policing practices.
  Let us seize this opportunity that we have before us to gain 
significant ground on several legislative areas which are not only CBC 
priorities, but are also in the strategic interests of our Nation. 
Criminal justice reform is one such area.
  Mr. Speaker and Ms. Kelly, any criminal justice reform, any 
legislation that we consider, must guarantee a substantial reduction in 
the prison population for Federal prisoners. We are, as a country, 5 
percent of the world's population; yet, we incarcerate 25 percent of 
those who are incarcerated in the world. There is something is wrong 
with that, Mr. Speaker.
  We must make sure that our laws and our criminal laws in this country 
are fair and that they are not disproportionate and overburdensome in 
some areas.
  We have Members of this body on both sides of the aisle who 
acknowledge the inadequacies in our criminal justice system and see 
reform as a key priority. The political will--the political will--for 
criminal justice reform is here today.
  The President was in Newark, New Jersey, today talking about criminal 
justice reform. Some of my Republican colleagues are talking about it, 
and my Democratic colleagues are talking about it.
  The leadership on both sides of the aisle have had meaningful 
conversations on this issue. We believe that a bipartisan legislative 
accomplishment can be achieved in this session.
  I know that there are several bills that are pending, and I hope Mr. 
Scott will talk extensively about it when he makes his remarks in just 
a moment.
  But criminal justice reform can take place in the 114th Congress, and 
I believe we can reach a bipartisan compromise that can get this bill 
to the President's desk by the end of this term.
  Thank you, Ms. Kelly, for yielding time.
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Thank you, my colleague from North Carolina, 
for your outstanding remarks on this topic of saving our community. I 
really, really appreciate it, and so do the American people.
  At this time, I would like to introduce my other colleague, 
Representative Bobby Scott from the great State of Virginia.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank the gentlewoman for organizing this 
Special Order so that we can talk about many aspects of the criminal 
justice system.
  You have asked us to talk about the militarization of communities, 
also what we can do to improve policing and the problem of mass 
incarceration. On the term of militarizing the communities, there was 
an amendment offered a few months ago that would have prevented the 
Department of Defense from giving local police departments certain 
military equipment.
  I think it is important to read what was actually in the legislation 
because some thought that handguns and ammunition was what we were 
talking about. Actually, the amendment goes into great length 
specifically about what would be prohibited if that amendment passed to 
help reduce the militarization of our communities.
  The Department of Defense has a program where they will give surplus 
equipment to local communities, and the limitation was that none of 
these transfers could include aircraft, including drones; armored 
vehicles; grenade launchers; silencers; toxicological agents, including 
chemical agents and biological agents; launch vehicles; guided 
missiles; ballistic missiles; rockets; torpedoes; bombs; mines; or 
nuclear weapons.
  Those are the only things that would be barred if this amendment had 
passed, not handguns and ammunition or other things that local police 
departments could actually use. But what local police department needs 
nuclear weapons or torpedoes?
  We are not talking about the large, sophisticated police forces. This 
is the kind of stuff that was being given to police departments that 
you might think of when you think of Andy Griffith and Barney Fife. 
What do they need with a tank?
  In one of the local incidents when they had a tank come out, it was 
pointed out that the people trying to drive the tank hadn't been 
trained on the tank. Can you just imagine hearing from inside, ``Where 
are the brakes? Where are the brakes?''
  If you need a military response, the appropriate thing to do would be 
to call in the National Guard. Then you have the military performing 
the military functions. I think there is a lot that we can do to 
restrict this kind of equipment going to our local police departments.
  A lot has been said about policing. We can discuss the problem of 
policing. We all know that the vast, overwhelming majority of police 
officers risk their lives on our behalf and do an excellent job.
  But whenever you get to describe what the problem is, we know what 
the

[[Page 16953]]

solution is going to be, and that is to make sure that there is a 
consensus growing that we need body cameras so we can know exactly what 
happened and police training so that police can be properly trained on 
things like how to avoid profiling, how to avoid discrimination, and 
treating one group different from the other. Implicit bias is what it 
is called. There is a lot you can do in training, and we need to make 
sure we have funding for that training.
  But in terms of mass incarceration, that is where we really need a 
lot of work. As the chairman mentioned, we have 5 percent of the 
world's population and 25 percent of the world's prisoners. In most 
countries, for every 100,000 population, they lock up 50 to 200 people 
per 100,000. The United States locks up over 700 per 100,000. We are 
well into the first place. There is nobody close.
  That number is particularly egregious because there have been recent 
studies that have suggested that anything over 500 per 100,000 is 
actually counterproductive.
  You have got so many people in jail. You have so many families being 
raised with their parents in prison. Young people are being raised 
without their parents. You have so many people with felony records 
having trouble finding jobs.
  You are wasting so much money that anything over about 500 per 
100,000 is counterproductive. We are at 700 and some per 100,000. The 
African American incarceration rate is in the thousands. That is just 
wasted money.
  That is what Texas found when they were looking a few years ago at an 
appropriations request of $2 billion needed to keep up with all the 
slogans and sound bites that they had codified in terms of keeping up 
with the mass incarceration in Texas, $2 billion in construction.
  And somebody said, ``Well, if you actually make a better choice, if 
you invested some of that money in prevention, early intervention, and 
rehabilitation, you might not have to spend all $2 billion.''
  That is what they did. They intelligently invested in evidence-based 
programs, programs studied and known to reduce crime, not just sound 
like they reduce crime, but actually known to reduce crime, evidence-
based policies of prevention, early intervention, and rehabilitation, 
and they found that they didn't need to build any new prisons.
  In fact, they were able to close some of the prisons that they had. 
Over 30 States have figured out that they can reduce crime and save 
money by reducing mass incarceration. On the other hand, Mr. Speaker, 
there are people that think slogans and sound bites are good, and that 
is how we got in the mess we are in now.
  The chairman mentioned the school-to-prison pipeline. I like to refer 
to it as the Children's Defense Fund does, as the cradle-to-prison 
pipeline, because that suggests that there are things all the way along 
the line that we are not doing that help construct this pipeline that 
ends up with--at present estimates, one out of three African American 
boys born today will end up in prison.
  We can do better than that if we make the appropriate investments all 
the way through from early childhood education to after-school 
programs, a continuum of services, to make sure that they create the 
cradle-to-college-and-career pipeline and not the cradle-to-prison 
pipeline. That includes investments that have been studied, evidence 
based, and we know they work.
  There is a lot you can do in terms of criminal justice reform, but if 
you do it right, it has to be comprehensive. That means you start with 
prevention and early intervention, make sure you are making those 
investments so fewer young people are getting in trouble. Then you have 
to do police training. We know that good police training can improve 
policing and, also, reduce crime. Body cameras can eliminate a lot of 
problems.
  Last year we passed the Death in Custody Reporting Act, which 
requires reporting from local police of anybody that dies in their 
custody in prison, in jail, or in the process of arrest, so we know 
what is going on around the country. As you have the debate, you can 
debate from a point of view of facts, not just in allegations when 
people don't know exactly what the facts are.
  We can make sure that the police training is there. You can have 
diversion to make sure that people who are arrested might not have to 
spend--the only people you need pretrial in jail are those that need to 
be in jail. You don't want to have unnecessary people serving time and 
losing their jobs in the process.
  You need a continuum of services, drug courts which can address the 
underlying problem rather than just convict them, lock them up, they 
come back, same thing, come back, back and forth.
  If you deal with the underlying problem in a drug court, you can have 
a situation where they are diverted from prison and, also, much less 
likely to commit a crime in the future.
  One of the major factors in over-incarceration are the mandatory 
minimums. We need to have significant reductions in mandatory minimum 
sentencing to make sure they only apply to a small portion of real, 
legitimate kingpins, not to girlfriends and people on the periphery 
that may have gotten caught up in a conspiracy.
  Once you get into prison, make sure that it is for rehabilitation, 
not for just warehousing, so you are much less likely to commit a crime 
when you come out. You have to fund the second chance programs.
  All of this is part of the SAFE Justice Act, which has the added 
benefit that, because of the significant reductions in mandatory 
minimums, there will be savings. The Department of Justice is able to 
redirect the savings into the prevention, early intervention programs, 
the drug courts, the body cameras and everything else. So everything in 
the program is paid for by reducing incarceration.
  This legislation has the support of a lot of different organizations, 
liberal and conservative, because everybody knows that, if it is 
enacted, we will reduce crime and save money.
  So we know what to do. It is just a matter of making sure we have the 
political will to do the right thing, to deal with mass incarceration 
by making the right choice, not the slogans and sound bites, but the 
evidence-based approach that will actually reduce crime and save money.
  We can do it. There is legislation pending. There are a lot of 
different bills, but we need to make sure that the comprehensive 
approach is reflected in whatever comes to the floor.
  So I want to thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for bringing us 
together so we can discuss the militarization of our communities, the 
solutions for policing, which would include training and body cameras 
and how we can effectively reduce mass incarceration. We know what to 
do, and the solutions save more money than they cost.
  So thank you very much for the opportunity to present that.
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Thank you so much for your important remarks. 
I know this topic is one that you have been researching and studying, 
trying to come up with solutions for a long time.
  One thing that is a little disconcerting is you say that the SAFE 
Justice Act is widely supported, but it still doesn't move.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Well, it doesn't matter which bill moves. The 
question is whatever moves ought to have the elements of prevention and 
early intervention, ought to have diversion, and if you only deal with 
sentencing in the Federal system, you are not dealing with mass 
incarceration in the United States.
  The Federal system only has 10 percent of the prisoners. So if you 
just eliminated the Federal system, you are only talking about 10 
percent reduction in incarceration. You have to do something about mass 
incarceration at the State level.

                              {time}  2015

  So when you just talk about sentencing reform, if you reduce a 
mandatory minimum for 25 to 15 years, the

[[Page 16954]]

first 15 years, that has no effect, because they will serve the first 
15 years, then gradually you will have an effect. If you want an 
effect, you need to have prevention programs so fewer people are coming 
into prison, diversion programs so those who are arrested can be 
diverted from prison, dealt with effectively in drug court so they are 
much less likely to commit a crime again so that you can reduce crime 
and save money.
  You have to make sure you have meaningful mandatory minimum reforms 
because that is one of the major drivers of the overincarceration. When 
people are in prison, you have to make sure you have the funding for 
the programs to make sure they don't come back. And once in the 
community, the second chance programs that have been very effective 
need to be funded.
  We know what to do; it is just a matter of getting it done. It 
doesn't matter whose bill passes; it is just whatever passes ought to 
have those elements.
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Is there any particular State that you think 
does a better job that we can hold up as a role model?
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. There are 30 States that have reduced crime 
and saved money. Texas was one of the first because they were looking 
at a $2 billion appropriation request to keep up with the slogans and 
sound bites that they had enacted in mass incarceration. At the rate 
they were going, they needed $2 billion in prison construction.
  They decided instead to invest it in prevention programs so fewer 
kids were getting in trouble; early intervention programs so that once 
people got in a little trouble, they wouldn't get in worse trouble; and 
rehabilitation in prisons so that as people got out, they were less 
likely to come back. They found that they not only didn't have to spend 
any of the $2 billion building prisons, they were able to close some of 
the prisons they had.
  Texas is a red State, and they called their initiative ``Right on 
Crime.'' Using the word ``right'' in both words is correct, and from 
the political right. So you had conservatives investing their money 
appropriately, reducing crime, and saving money.
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. That is fantastic.
  I know in my district, we have held some roundtables, and some of my 
employers, manufacturers, they shared that they did hire people who 
were in prison and were some of their best employees because they are 
so grateful that someone gave them a chance. We really need to promote 
that and highlight those things.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. The second chance idea is that people who get 
out of prison ought to be supported. The little money you spend on 
support pales in consideration to what usually happens. They get out, 
they can't find a job, they can't do anything, and they are right back 
into prison at $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year. If you spend a little 
bit of money supporting them, they might not come back.
  One of the elements the President talked about today is the ``ban the 
box.'' When you fill out an application, there is a little box, ``Have 
you ever been convicted of a felony?'' If you check the box, that is 
the end of the interview.
  What the ban the box is suggesting is don't talk about the criminal 
record at first. Go through the process so you can present your 
credentials. Then, at the end of the process, they can discuss criminal 
record, but not at the beginning.
  You will find that many people, the conviction is so far past. 
Studies have shown that after a few years, if you have got a clean 
record, the chance of you committing a crime isn't any higher than the 
general population. So if it is a 15-year-old nonviolent offense, well, 
maybe it is not relevant; and maybe your credentials are so much better 
than everybody else's that you are the right person for the job, but 
you never would have had the opportunity to present your credentials if 
you had to check the box.
  So all around the country, cities, States, and businesses are 
eliminating that box to check, talking to people and seeing if they are 
actually qualified for the job, and those that are qualified can get 
the job. Obviously, some violations, if you have got an embezzlement 
charge and you are trying to get a job in a bank, or child molestation 
at a daycare center, you know, but a lot of them, if it is a 20-year-
old marijuana possession charge or something like that, compared to 
your credentials, compared to everybody else head and shoulders, well, 
people can overlook a 20-year-old conviction. You never would have 
gotten to that point if you had to check the box. That is why the ban 
the box campaign is so important.
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. That is a good idea we have now in Illinois.
  Thank you, Representative. I really appreciate you taking the time 
and sharing your vast knowledge about this topic.
  Mr. Speaker, many of the families that we represent believe that the 
only and right way to save our communities and secure our better future 
is to enact laws that actually understand the needs of American 
families, regardless of circumstance, and invest in their future.
  This Congress must have a frank conversation about what those 
investments are and vote for policies that will truly save our 
communities. And this conversation has to be a bipartisan conversation, 
not just a Congressional Black Caucus or Democratic conversation.
  Mr. Speaker, I am reminded that today our colleague, the Honorable 
Donald Payne, Jr., of New Jersey could not be here because he was asked 
to be with the President. President Obama visited Congressman Payne's 
district to discuss criminal justice reform, as you heard a little bit 
about already.
  As many of you know, earlier today, President Obama spoke of his 
intent to make significant reforms in the criminal justice space; and 
in keeping with the message of ``saving our communities,'' the reforms 
the President is championing are necessary. I thank the President for 
his efforts.
  I want to take just a moment to say that I appreciate the fact that 
over on the other side of the Hill, a bipartisan coalition of Senators, 
led by my Congressional Black Caucus colleague, Senator Cory Booker, as 
well as my home State Senator, the Honorable Dick Durbin, and men 
willing to cross the aisle, like Senator Mike Lee of Utah, were able to 
come together to introduce comprehensive legislation aimed at 
recalibrating prison sentences for certain drug offenders, targeting 
violent criminals, and granting judges greater discretion at sentencing 
for low-level drug crimes. Their sentencing reform legislation helps to 
curve recidivism by helping prisoners successfully reenter society.
  These are just small components of an overall strategy to help save 
communities, but they are critical ones nonetheless.
  Here are the facts. More than half a million people leave U.S. 
prisons each year with jobs, housing, and mental health services 
scarce. Many are soon to be back behind bars.
  Like the President said, many of us in the Congressional Black Caucus 
are calling on community stakeholders to break the cycle of 
incarceration by helping former inmates successfully reenter society.
  So tonight's Special Order hour is an opportunity that comes on the 
heels of the President's New Jersey visit, a visit where he toured a 
drug treatment center called the Integrity House, and recognized its 
work in helping former inmates secure housing, jobs, and skills needed 
to transition to life outside of prison. I have a place like that in 
Illinois called the Safer Foundation that does much of the same work.
  As the President noted, everyone has a role to play in criminal 
justice reform and reintegrating those who have served time in prison 
back into society. From businesses that are hiring ex-offenders to 
philanthropies that are supporting education and training programs, we 
have to get to work getting ex-offenders back on their feet so they can 
help build up their communities.
  Mr. Speaker, this Congress has to have the astuteness and manpower in 
its ranks to recognize that we must do

[[Page 16955]]

more, that it will take a village, and it takes real leadership to 
improve the plight of America's communities. This means we need jobs 
legislation that offers opportunity. This means we need safe streets 
free of violence. This means we need community policing that brings us 
peace of mind and comfort.
  I feel compelled in this conversation about communities to say that, 
as a representative of the Chicagoland area and as a co-chair of the 
House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, Congress must get over its 
fear of talking about violence in America. We have to do more than hold 
moments of silence when tragedies occur. We have to stop being silent 
and start acting. We don't have to be enemies on this subject.
  The issues of gun violence and police violence in our communities are 
real. It is how we respond to the problems that exist in these areas 
that will show our strength as a country. Right now, the tragic 
occurrences that exist with respect to these issues only serve as 
barriers to our growth as a nation.
  When I talk about gun violence, I always start out by reminding folks 
of a few things.
  First, it is important to realize that gun violence isn't just an 
urban problem; it is an American problem. In the last 50 years, more 
than 1 million people have been killed by guns in America.
  Since 1968, more Americans have died from gunfire than died in all 
the wars of this country's history.
  A young Black man is nearly 5 times more likely to be killed by a gun 
than a young White man, and 13 times more than an Asian American man.
  If a Black person is killed by a gun, it is judged a homicide 82 
percent of the time.
  And keep in mind, from metal detectors in buildings to shooting 
safety drills at schools and movie theaters, gun violence has affected 
all of our communities, not only in terms of how we live, but whether 
we live at all.
  And the irony is that, even with all this death and tragedy, this 
Congress can't even put a background check bill on the House floor, 
even with an NRA membership that is in 80 percent agreement that we 
need expanded background checks. Last Congress, even with about 190 
cosponsors, the bill never came to the floor.
  When I talk about saving our communities and discussing the actions 
of the police, I often remind people of this: the police are not our 
enemy. I won't ever say that because that simply is not the case.
  To make our communities safer, we need the support of families, 
leaders, and our local law enforcement. I come from a family of law 
enforcement officers and know that our police ranks are filled with 
brave, well-intentioned, civic-minded heroes. Sadly, too many in the 
Black community don't have the same family experience that I have had 
with law enforcement and fear the police. I have a 31-year-old son, and 
even though the same police are in his family, he hasn't had the same 
experiences.
  And, unfortunately, there are still too many police officers who 
harbor a level of fear when it comes to dealing with the Black 
community.
  Mr. Speaker, we have discussed the aftermath of a few high-profile 
police events. I will repeat what I often say: we must hold our law 
enforcement officials to the highest professional standards and provide 
them with the training they need to effectively police diverse 
communities. This training must address the biases and stereotypes that 
influence decisions in the field and that create obstacles to mutual 
understanding. In working to achieve that understanding, we can strive 
toward a justice system that treats all Americans fairly and values all 
American lives equally.
  Before I end, I just want to give my colleague the opportunity to 
share a few more words.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the 
gentlewoman from Illinois for all of her strong work in criminal 
justice. She has been fighting since she first got here. That is 
certainly appreciated and has made quite a difference.
  As you have indicated, this is a moment when adversarial groups and 
Members of Congress, liberal and conservative, have come to a consensus 
that we need to reform the criminal justice system. The Safe Justice 
Act that I mentioned is led by Jim Sensenbrenner from Wisconsin, a 
Republican, and has Republican and Democratic support. There are bills 
in the House and the Senate with bipartisan support. If we are going to 
have this moment where everyone is in agreement, we need to make sure 
that we do everything we possibly can.
  I thank you for organizing this Special Order so that we can make 
criminal justice reform a reality.
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Thank you.
  I thank my colleagues for lending their voices for this important 
conversation about saving our communities, and I will be submitting 
some other work from other colleagues not here tonight.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues from the 
Congressional Black Caucus because last week our nation was reminded, 
yet again, Black lives have no value. But this time, the reminder was 
different.
  It did not come from law enforcement in response to a shooting, 
traffic stop, or 911 call. Nor did it come from inside a jail cell or a 
court room. This time, the reminder came from the use of excessive 
force in a place where most of us would expect it never to happen: our 
schools.
  Schools should be safe havens for our nation's children. 
Unfortunately, actions of Spring Valley school resource officer, Ben 
Fields, caught on video have proven that they are not. Instead of 
preparing young minds across the country to tackle our nation's most 
complex issues, some of our schools are fostering fear and mistrust.
  And, this is what my young constituents have told me. On October 16, 
I held a listening session with more than 400 high school students from 
Northeast Ohio.
  I was surprised to hear that nearly all of them felt there was no one 
they could talk to--in their schools or communities--if they felt 
unsafe. Today, I am not so shocked. With incidents like the one 
captured in the Spring Valley video, who could blame them?
  What messages are acts like these sending our youth? Are they to 
think this behavior is acceptable and that they matter less, if at all?
  The over criminalization of African-American youth and young adults 
is already a growing issue in our communities. The number of African-
American men in jail continues to rise. African-American and Latino 
boys and men tend to receive harsher sentences than their peers of 
other races.
  Further, the school-to-prison pipeline is as strong as ever, with our 
African-American students suspended at three times the rate of their 
White peers. In this case, criminal charges were even filed against the 
young Spring Valley female student after she was subjected to egregious 
force by a ``resource officer.''
  As a nation, we must stop this vicious cycle. It is time to change 
the narrative and save our communities for generations to come.
  I call on my colleagues in Congress to work together to pass policies 
that tell our children their lives have value. We must pass criminal 
justice reform and support policies that create a safe, nurturing 
environment in our schools. The future of our communities depends on 
it.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, as many of you know, the promotion of best 
practices and oversight of state and local law enforcement have been 
legislative priorities during my tenure as a Judiciary Committee 
member. My Pattern And Practice statute, passed as part of the 1994 
crime bill, has served at the dominant tool used by the Department of 
Justice to address the myriad of policing controversies dating back the 
LAPD, New Orleans and most recently Seattle, Cleveland and Ferguson, 
Missouri police departments.
  Over the past two decades, tensions between police and communities of 
color have grown as allegations of bias-based policing by law 
enforcement agents, sometimes supported by data collection efforts and 
video evidence, have increased in number and frequency.
  Recent events in the wake of Ferguson, Missouri demonstrate that 
racial profiling and bias-based policing remain divisive issues in 
communities across the nation that strikes at the very foundation of 
our democracy.
  The deaths of Walter L. Scott--arising from a traffic stop--Michael 
Brown, Eric Garner, and Antonio Zambrano-Montes--all at the hands of 
police officers--highlight the links between the issues of race and 
reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct. Ultimately, these men are 
tragic examples of the risk of being

[[Page 16956]]

victimized by a perception of criminality simply because of their race, 
ethnicity, religion or national origin.
  Despite the fact that the majority of law enforcement officers 
perform their duties professionally and without bias, the relationship 
between the police and some of minority communities has deteriorated to 
such a degree that federal action is required to begin addressing the 
issue. With recent Washington Post reports of almost 400 police-
involved shooting fatalities in the first five months of 2015, all 
should agree that the time for bipartisan action is long overdue.
  In 2001, I welcomed President Bush's invitation to draft legislation 
that would end the practice of unlawful police profiling, with 
bipartisan Congressional support. In April, I reintroduced the End 
Racial Profiling Act in the hope that Congress and the Obama 
Administration can come together to pass legislation that sends the 
signal that the Federal government is committed to ensuring that its 
law enforcement agencies conduct their activities free from bias.
  In May, the Judiciary Committee, where I am former Chairman and 
current Ranking Member, held a hearing on Police accountability, where 
we heard from expert witnesses on police practices and discussed policy 
options to restoring the relationship between the police and 
communities of color.
  In June, I followed up on this effort to address fair policing 
practices by reintroducing the Law enforcement Trust and Integrity Act. 
That bill is designed to provide incentives for local police 
organizations to voluntarily adopt performance-based standards to 
ensure that incidents of deadly force or misconduct will be minimized 
through appropriate management and training protocols and properly 
investigated, should they occur.
  The bill authorizes the Department of Justice to work cooperatively 
with independent accreditation, law enforcement and community-based 
organizations to further develop and refine accreditation standards, 
and further authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to law 
enforcement agencies for the purpose of obtaining accreditation from 
certified law enforcement accreditation organizations.
  Currently, there are no federally recognized minimum standards for 
operating a law enforcement agency. The ad hoc nature of police 
management has accordingly left many officers and agencies in the dark 
about how to cope with changes in their communities. That is the real 
reason police officers and department feel so adrift in the current 
post-Ferguson environment--not the Black Lives Matter Movement. There 
is a vacuum of leadership in policing that can only be filled by 
leadership at the federal level.
  Beyond the human toll created by law enforcement accountability 
issues, there remains the fiscal impact created by the high cost of 
litigation settlements for police abuse claims. While most cities fail 
to systematically track the cost of litigation, the cost reports for 
major cities have proven staggering. In New York City alone, during 
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's three term tenure, NYPD payouts were in 
excess of $1 billion dollars for policing claims. For small 
departments, the cost of a single high profile incident could prove 
crippling in its impact on public safety.
  While the Department of Justice has a range of criminal and civil 
authority to address policing issues, the Civil Rights Division will 
never have the resources necessary to investigate more than a small 
fraction of those departments engaged in unconstitutional conduct, even 
with the enhanced funding and task force authority granted by this 
legislation.
  Through the support of a robust accreditation regime, like that 
existing in healthcare, Congress can ensure that all communities have 
the best trained and managed police departments. Only by establishing 
acceptable police operations standards can we begin to preemptively 
address issues like use of force and heal the rifts within our 
communities.
  Media reports from Baltimore and other cities depicting 
confrontations between protestors and their police departments 
illustrate the current divide between law enforcement and the 
communities they police. In the past years, cities from New York to 
Cincinnati and Miami to Los Angeles have experienced unrest following 
controversial use of force incidents by their police. Absent a climate 
of trust and accountability, community needs are not served and the 
jobs of the police officers become more difficult and dangerous.
  The energies of Congress should be focused on the adoption of 
legislative priorities that address the substance of law enforcement 
management and strengthen the current battery of tools available to 
sanction misconduct. As a Congress we have been enthusiastic about 
supporting programs designed to get officers on the street.
  We must be just as willing to support programs designed to train and 
manage them after they get there. The current national climate requires 
decisive action to implement solutions. Out of respect for all who have 
lost their lives over the last nine months--both law enforcement and 
civilian--I hope you will join me in supporting legislation that 
initiates the reforms necessary to restore public trust and 
accountability to law enforcement.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my 
colleagues in speaking on the critically important issue of criminal-
justice reform.
  Just last week, an African-American girl at Spring Valley High School 
in Columbia, South Carolina was violently arrested by the school's 
resource officer. This is a disturbing example of a law enforcement 
officer using excessive force when interacting with a person of color 
and a perfect illustration of an alarming trend in our schools. We need 
to have a substantive dialogue around how to empower administrators, 
teachers, and staff to deal with school disciplinary issues so that 
students aren't being criminalized for behavioral issues.
  According to the Department of Education, black females enrolled in 
New York City and Boston schools are disciplined 10.5 times more on 
average than their white counterparts.
  African Americans seem to face undue scrutiny by police officers 
throughout our communities. Black Americans are more than twice as 
likely to be unarmed when killed during encounters with police when 
compared to Caucasians. States and Congress must set higher standards 
for the use of deadly force and must hold police officers accountable 
if they violate these standards. This is the first of many steps to 
begin the process of mending the delicate relationship between law 
enforcement and people of color.
  This disparity is increasingly evident when looking at the 
composition of the U.S. prison population. The Coalition for Public 
Safety argues that more than 60 percent of our prison population is 
composed of racial and ethnic minorities. That is why I have supported 
H.R. 3713, a comprehensive sentencing reform effort with bipartisan 
support that aims to overhaul the current system which 
disproportionately affects minorities.
  I strongly believe that addressing the disparate treatment of people 
of color at the hands of police is a fundamental step toward creating 
an equitable society. As one of the first black women to be publically 
elected from Dallas, I spent my entire career championing equity for 
communities of color and fighting on behalf of African Americans for 
social justice. It is clear that there are fundamental problems in 
police and justice systems across the nation that needs to be 
addressed. As a former Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
these issues are of the utmost importance to me and I am personally 
committed to finding long term solutions.
  We must act now to remedy the culture and system of violence against 
people of color. Our nation has endured this disparity for far too long 
and I encourage my colleagues to not only speak out on this issue, but 
also take swift and immediate action.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a proud member of the 
Congressional Black Caucus to participate in this special order hour on 
``Saving Our Communities'' and to discuss how we can work together to 
address the militarization of law enforcement, the high rate of arrest 
of our African American youth in our school systems, and the importance 
of criminal justice reform.
  First, let me thank my colleague Congresswoman Robin Kelly, for 
organizing this special order and for her continued leadership on so 
many issues, especially as chair of the CBC's Health Braintrust. Her 
leadership is so critical for these important discussions.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to speak about our broken criminal 
justice system and how its institutional biases overwhelmingly and 
negatively affect African Americans. Black bodies are criminalized, our 
police forces are becoming more and more militarized and we see 
astronomical arrest rates amongst African American youth.
  From the East Bay to New York City, we see a common story of African 
Americans living in a different version of America. Their version is 
one filled with fear, distrust, and vicious cycles of incarceration, 
unemployment, poverty and recidivism.
  Mass incarceration and a lack of reintegration policies have greatly 
hurt African American communities and I am frankly tired of waiting for 
``the people's'' house to act.
  For too long, we have ignored issues affecting African American 
communities. It is time to do the good work needed to save our 
communities. Let's pass criminal justice reform, end the militarization 
of our police forces, and work

[[Page 16957]]

so that no student will have to go through what that young woman in 
South Carolina went through.
  I applaud the President for his announcement today, and his bold and 
continued leadership to advance criminal justice reform. Yet much work 
remains to be done.
  The cycle of incarceration and recidivism start early for African 
American students. The school to prison pipeline is very real and it 
pushes young people into prisons before they even have a chance.
  While black students represent just 18 percent of preschool 
enrollment, they account for 42 percent of preschool student 
expulsions. We are talking about kids that are 2-5 years old--these 
kids don't even get a start, let alone a head start.
  This carries over to high-school. Look at the incident at Spring 
Valley High school in South Carolina--it speaks to issues around black 
criminalization and the unnecessary escalation of discipline for 
African American students.
  Having a phone out in class does not warrant a police call, and it 
certainly does not justify a student--a child, really--from being 
thrown out of a chair and dragged across a classroom floor.
  Yet we see today that young African American girls are disciplined 
10.5 times more than their white counterparts. Black girls are expelled 
and suspended at higher rates as well--what is going on?
  We live in a country where black and brown youth are punished more 
often and more severely than their white counterparts. Yet few seem to 
raise an eyebrow at these gross disparities--disparities that have 
landed thousands of young people in jail, without hope and without a 
future.
  As the mother of black men and the grandmother of two black boys, I 
find statistics like that troubling. For African Americans, we have 
allowed our school system to be turned into a prison pipeline. We must 
act now to stop it.
  The sad thing about the Spring Valley incident is that this is not 
the first time we have seen students be brutalized at school. And while 
I commend the police department for firing this out of line officer and 
applaud the Justice Department for investigating, more must be done to 
prevent these miscarriages of justice.
  We must address the systemic issues facing our education and criminal 
justice systems.
  Nationwide, our local police forces have become increasingly 
militarized. Images from the unrest in Ferguson caused an outcry as we 
saw citizens being repelled by police officers in tanks. It looked like 
a scene from a battlefield than the streets of a suburban Missouri 
town.
  For too long excess military equipment has been sent to local 
jurisdictions with the obligation to use them within one year. Weapons 
of war have no place on Main Street.
  That is why I am a proud co-sponsor of the Stop Militarizing Law 
Enforcement Act (H.R. 1232) a bipartisan bill that reins in the 
transfer of military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies.
  Instead of finding ways to arm our police forces, let's find ways to 
provide them with greater racial sensitivity training and work to build 
greater trust between law enforcement and the communities in which they 
serve.
  That is why I introduced H. Res. 262, a resolution supporting 
community-oriented policing and encouraging greater diversity in law 
enforcement hiring and retention.
  Our local law enforcement agencies must reflect the communities they 
serve.
  Finally Mr. Speaker, it is past time that we tackle criminal justice 
reform. The President made some bold announcements today but Congress 
must act.
  Let us ban the box, implement policies that increase integration, and 
address issues of income inequality and poverty that keep too many 
people and families trapped in a cycle of mass incarceration, 
unemployment, poverty and recidivism.
  Systemic and institutional racial biases have broken our criminal 
justice system and eroded trust between law enforcement and the 
communities that they serve.
  Thoughtful criminal justice reform is what is necessary to mend these 
relationships and work to ``save our community'' from the inside and 
out.
  I am proud to be a member of the CBC's Ferguson Task Force that is 
putting forth real, actionable legislation that should come forward for 
an immediate vote--
  Legislation like the Police Accountability Act (H.R. 1102) and the 
Grand Jury Reform Act (H.R. 429, which together would ensure that 
deadly force cases are heard by a judge and ensure police 
accountability by expanding the DOJ's power to persecute cases.
  Let's work to save these communities. Let's end excessive force in 
our schools, work to stop the decriminalization of black bodies, and 
find effective solutions to the end the school to prison pipeline.

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