Announcement By the Acting Chair

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. The 1033 program has been around for 30-plus years. It has been an open conduit through which armaments directly from battlefields have flowed directly into the hands of State, local, and Federal law enforcement agencies.

This equipment has operated to militarize police departments without civilian authority. The 1033 program operates such that a law enforcement agency, even a school law enforcement agency or university law enforcement agency can just simply petition the Defense Logistics Agency for whatever equipment is listed on the website.

They can order it. As long as they can pay for the transportation of it to their location, they can get the equipment without any civilian oversight authority approving it.

The rules of the 1033 program require that, once the law enforcement agency takes possession of the equipment, that it be placed into service within 1 year of its acquisition or else it has to be returned. That is a recipe for law enforcement agencies to acquire military-grade weaponry without county commission or city council approval.

They get it and must put it into use within a year of their receipt of it. That means that untrained police officers using military equipment against civilians without civilian authority approval. That is a pipeline that needs to be shut down. After President Obama shut the pipeline down to a great extent, President Trump reopened it, and now President Biden has shut it down.

Now, we have this amendment that seeks to open it to even more militarized equipment than was allowed in the first place.

If you want large-caliber, .50-caliber weaponry from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq to flow to your neighborhood, then you support this amendment.

If you want large-caliber weaponry, artillery, mortar rounds, if you want that coming onto your property, into your community, then vote for this amendment.

If you want weaponized drones from the battlefield to flow to your community without your Representatives' knowledge or consent, then vote for this amendment.

If you want flamethrowers, if you want missiles, if you want all kinds of equipment that this amendment opens the door to to come to your community, then be in favor of this amendment. I stand opposed to it.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Crockett).

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Crockett).

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