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Mr. President, I wish to say a few words about National Police Week. I am pleased to be able to cochair with the Presiding Officer and the Senator from Delaware Mr. Coons the Law Enforcement Caucus which we founded when we came to the Senate together. I am proud to be a cosponsor of the National Blue Alert Act that Senator Cardin talked about, and I would like to see that done. I think we can do things to provide more safety and security for local police officers as we have done for the fire grants, all those things that followed 911.
As I was listening, I was thinking about how much we benefit every day from the Capitol Police. We walk by them in their positions securing these buildings and standing in the way of harm, and we often forget they are there for that purpose. When others are able to look for a safer place to be, our police officers run to where the danger is. They stand between us and that danger.
In the time I have been here, two of our Capitol police officers have been killed in the building on duty, one just a few feet away from where my office would be in the next Congress. They were there for us. I remember on 9/11 leaving the building with every reason to believe this building could be and perhaps was going to be an immediate target to our enemies attacking us that day. I remember walking out of the building as the Capitol Police were insisting we get out of the building and looking over my shoulder and seeing they were all still in the building.
So whether it is the police we see daily here, the police who serve us in our communities, or the families who send their loved ones into harm's way every day, this is an important time to recognize that service, but also it should be an important time to think about what we could do about it.
The National Blue Alert bill doesn't mandate that States create a system. It simply provides that States could have access to a system which would create an alert system so that when someone has harmed a police officer, we make a maximum and immediate effort to see that person is apprehended and eventually be called to pay the penalty for what they have done.
We benefit from these people who again run to where the danger is, who stand between us and that which creates danger for us as citizens. Whether trying to go to the local grocery store, the local shopping center or the school play, there is somebody in that community whose job it is to make it a safer place than it would otherwise be.
I am pleased to have had a chance to work with the Presiding Officer on so many issues. During National Police Week, I rise with and on behalf of all of our colleagues to say thank you for those who stand to defend and protect us here.
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