The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP GRANT ACT OF 2000” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S7435-S7436 on July 21, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP GRANT ACT OF 2000
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I will try not to delay my good friend from Kansas too long. I know he, like others, wishes to leave.
I speak only because I am disappointed the Senate has not yet passed the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000 that is S. 2413. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed this bill unanimously on June 29. All Members, Republicans and Democrats, voted for it. Since then, I have checked with the Democratic caucus. All 45 Democratic Senators support this bill. All 45 are perfectly agreeable to have it either come to an immediate vote or passed by unanimous consent.
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, our late colleague, Senator Coverdell, Bingaman, Ashcroft, Edwards, Bunning, Cleland, Hutchison, and Abraham also cosponsored our bipartisan bill.
I mention this because I have been receiving calls from a number of people in the law enforcement community asking why it has not passed. I did not know the answer. As I said, I checked and found the 45 Democratic Senators all said they had no objection to it being passed by voice vote today, yesterday, whenever--but we have been told a Republican Senator has stopped this bill from passing. He has a hold on the bill, a bill that is intended 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.
When we introduced the original Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 1998, President Clinton invited Senator Campbell and me down for the signing of it. Shortly after it was passed into law, we funded 92,000 new bulletproof vests for our Nation's police officers. You can now make application on web sites. The whole thing has worked extremely well.
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 (Public Law 105-181).
The 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 first year of operation, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program funded 92,000 new bulletproof vests for our nation's police officers, including 361 vests for Vermont police officers. Applications are now available at the program's web site at http://
vests.ojp.gov/ for this year's funds.
The entire process of submitting applications and obtaining federal funds is completed through this web site.
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.
The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000 will provide state and local law enforcement agencies with more of the assistance they need to protect their officers.
Our bipartisan legislation enjoys the endorsement of many law enforcement organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Sheriffs' Association.
We need to recognize the hard work of those who have sworn to serve and protect us. And we should do what we can to protect them, when a need like this one comes to our attention.
Our nation's law enforcement officers put their lives at risk in the line of duty every day. No one knows when danger will appear.
Unfortunately, in today's violent world, even a traffic stop may not necessarily be ``routine.'' Each and every law enforcement officer across the nation deserves the protection of a bulletproof vest.
I hope this mysterious ``hold'' on the other side of the aisle will soon disappear. The Senate should pass without delay the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000, S. 2413, to ensure that each and every law enforcement agency in Vermont and across the nation can afford basic protection for their officers.
I just want to speak a little bit personally about this. I spent the first 8 years of my public life in law enforcement. I have said many times on the floor of the Senate that it was in so many ways the most rewarding career I had. I got to know the men and women in law enforcement who are called upon to go out at 3 o'clock in the afternoon or 3 o'clock in the morning and put their lives on the line for us.
I thought this legislation was something that would help. I have received hundreds of letters and e-mails from police officers across the country who use the Campbell-Leahy law to get themselves bulletproof vests. I know Senator Campbell has, too. We joke about it, but we call it the Campbell-Leahy, Colorado-Leahy, Campbell-Vermont law--police officers know what it is. It is the bulletproof vest law.
I was so glad to tell the leaders of law enforcement, the sheriffs, the police officers, and others that we had put together, once again, a bipartisan coalition and were moving through the reauthorization in what has proven to be one of the most successful pieces of law enforcement legislation we have had.
That is why when they started calling me and asking, ``why hasn't it passed; if everybody supports it, why hasn't it passed,'' I had to tell them an anonymous Republican Senator has stopped it from passing. Whoever that Senator might be has a right to object to it going forward under our practices, if not under our rules.
I ask if that Senator might be willing to put first, and foremost, the needs of our law enforcement officers. If they do not like the bill, then let's bring it to a rollcall vote and they can vote against it. I suspect it will be a 98-1 vote on this. I know every Democrat is going to vote for it because they have told me they will. Every single Republican I have talked with said they will vote for it. I suspect the vast majority of the Senate will vote for it.
I call on that anonymous Senator to step forward and either allow us to pass it by a voice vote or let us bring it to a rollcall vote and vote it up or down. The President has assured me personally that he will sign this bill. He has no hesitation signing it. He wants to sign it.
Senator Campbell and I will support it throughout the appropriations process to get the money. The most conservative, most liberal, and the moderate Senators in this body have all supported it. Let's do the right thing. Let's tell the same police officers we ask to go out at 3 o'clock in the morning to protect us that we will not do the closed-
door withholding of the bulletproof vest legislation.
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