Issue Position: Supporting Law Enforcement

Issue Position

Those who put their lives at risk on a daily basis to protect our neighborhoods deserve our respect, admiration, and support. Pat has repeatedly used his platform in Congress to stand up for the police and call attention to their great work at a time when the Administration and the media have chosen to focus on the unfortunate deeds of a select few. Law enforcement has not caused the wave of crime across America, they protect us from it!

Law enforcement officers who make the ultimate sacrifice deserve our utmost gratitude. That is why Pat has led several efforts to affirm that police lives matter.

*Pat led the fight to oppose President Obama's nomination of Debo Adegbile to head the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. Mr. Adegbile led an effort to distort the facts surrounding the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner at the hands of an unrepentant criminal named Mumia Abu-Jamal. Pat was a key player in successfully blocking this controversial nominee and standing up for members of our law enforcement community.
*In the Senate he also introduced the Thin Blue Line Act, which makes the killing or targeting of a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or other first responder an aggravating factor in death penalty determinations.

Pat is also working hard to ensure law enforcement officers have the tools they need to protect themselves.

He authored and secured Senate passage of the Eric Williams Correctional Officer Protection Act of 2015, named for Pennsylvania corrections officer Eric Williams, who was killed in the line of duty by a violent inmate. The legislation authorizes all correctional officers to carry pepper spray.
Pat has pushed back against the Administration's actions that restrict local police access to lifesaving federal equipment, including riot shields, helmets, and armored personnel transport vehicles.
Cosponsored the Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act, providing nationwide "Blue Alerts" when police are threatened or attacked, that was signed into law on May 19, 2015.
Pat cosponsored the bipartisan Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program Reauthorization Act that passed the Senate on May 6, 2015.
Furthermore, Pat has introduced the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act to allow federal correctional officers to carry firearms to and from work and the Federal Law Enforcement Self-Defense & Protection Act to ensure federal law enforcement officers on furlough maintain their rights to carry a firearm for self-protection.
Finally, Pat has worked to ensure public safety officers receive full and fair retirement pay by introducing the Federal Public Safety Retirement Fairness Act to eliminate taxes on retirement funds for federal law enforcement. The measure was signed into law on June 29, 2015.

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