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Police Departments
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, it has been a while since congressional Democrats have used the words ``defund the police.'' That was a very popular phrase in 2021, but after the last election, Democrats learned how truly toxic those words were with ordinary Americans. Now they dare not say the words ``defund the police,'' but make no mistake about it, liberals are still trying to defund the police.
A recent nominee for a high-level post at the Department of Justice said that she wasn't in favor of defunding the police, but she talked about it--``overspending on criminal justice system infrastructure and policing.'' That was just a fancier way of saying ``cut police budgets.''
Fortunately, the voters are standing up to these people, and I want to give just two examples.
First, voters in Minneapolis will go to the polls November 2 and decide whether to replace the city's police department with a department called the Department of Public Safety. This supposed Department of Public Safety would take a ``comprehensive public health approach'' in trying to keep the city safe. Under this idea, police officers could be employed if necessary. Well, the American voters have news for the people who got this initiative on the ballot in Minneapolis: Police officers are absolutely necessary in Minneapolis, and they are necessary in every other community as well.
Another example. In Austin, TX, voters will have a chance to restore funding for their police force--funding that the city council slashed a great deal last year.
The murder rate in Austin is higher than it has ever been. So far, 71 people have been killed in Austin, passing the previous record of 59 murders set all the way back in 1984. And with 71 murders, we still have 2 months left in this year, if you want to compare it to all the murders that took place in 1984, a previous high.
Some Austin voters have had enough of this sort of thinking, and they are trying to restore some common sense there in Austin. Under the Proposition A ballot initiative, the city would have to maintain at least 2 police officers for every 1,000 residents, which is more than they have at the present time.
But not everybody likes that, and liberal dark money groups have pumped a half million dollars into defeating this Proposition A because they want to keep defunded police still defunded.
Those same groups recently subsidized the campaigns of hard-left district attorneys all throughout the country. That includes the San Francisco district attorney, who has let drug and property crimes skyrocket. San Francisco is now getting hammered with out-of-control drug use, and shoplifting there happens to be a way of life.
That isn't Chuck Grassley saying that; that is anybody watching television who sees pictures of people just going into stores and just picking up whatever they want. In one city, if it is under $950, you won't be prosecuted. So it is a license to shoplift.
I hope Austin, TX, voters will make sure that their city doesn't go the same way. I would like to think they would want to be safe from criminals and the drugs that criminals push.
Liberal politicians are no longer saying it out loud, ``defund the police.'' But make no mistake about it, many of them still want to defund police.
If Minneapolis and Austin let their police forces wither away on the vine, voters all across the Nation and all across the political spectrum will send a very clear message to the hard left in the next election. So voters everywhere should stand up and say no to defunding the police.
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.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 187
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