Scalise Honors Police Week in the House

Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), and Congressman John Rutherford (R-Fla.) to discuss the progress House Committees are making on reconciliation in order to pass President Trump’s agenda of energy independence, border security, lower taxes, reduced government spending, and protection for America’s most vulnerable. As the House celebrates Police Week with legislation on the floor, Leader Scalise also highlighted a brave Capitol Police Officer in his life, David Bailey, who took a bullet to save the lives of Members of Congress during the Congressional Baseball Game shooting in 2017.
  
On the heroism of our law enforcement:

“Well, I'm proud to join my colleagues in celebrating National Law Enforcement Week, bringing a number of bills to the floor to give better protections to our men and women in law enforcement, and just continue to remind those brave heroes that we have their back, like Sheriff Rutherford and so many others in law enforcement, they now serve in Congress. Pete Stauber, who was a cop on the beat, I room with. You know the kind of heroes that they are, and we hear about heroes a lot. 

“You sometimes hear stories about heroes in law enforcement. I get to walk with one of those heroes every day. I'm going to embarrass him, and he's going to be upset with me, but he happens to be with me this morning. That's David Bailey. You want to meet a real-life American hero. It's that man right there. I wouldn't be here today, and probably about a dozen other Members of Congress wouldn't be here today, if not for his bravery, that I got to experience firsthand. I didn't get to see it all, but I heard it all. Over 100 rounds of gunfire. When a gunman came out on a ball field and tried to kill all of us, and the only reason we're alive today is because he put himself between us and the gunfire, risked his life, got hit during the shootout. The only reason we're alive and [the gunman is] not is because of the bravery of David Bailey and Crystal Griner. 

“While we hear about heroes every now and then, when you actually get to see one and walk around with one, and he came back to work when he got out of the hospital for his treatment, he wanted to go back to work because he loves what he does. He cares about his training. It's not talked about a lot because many men and women in law enforcement might never have to use their revolver. Hopefully, they don't, and they don't want to. But they go to training every day in case they have to, so they're ready to risk their lives to protect us and our communities. And that's what David did. The reason that we're all here today, including him, is because he took his training so seriously. In the days where you could have just phoned it in. He said, ‘You know what? If I'm ever called on to be ready, I want to be prepared to do the job.’ We know there's so many brave men and women just like David, but I got to see it and experience it. I'm here because of him, and I'm always going to pay tribute to the great heroism of what law enforcement represents. I hope we all remember that. It's not just a talking point. It's not just stories that we hear about. I got to experience it, and a number of my colleagues would tell you the exact same thing.” 

On House Committees’ progress on reconciliation:

“We also, of course, are moving through the reconciliation bill and finishing it up this week. This incredibly important work, we're doing what a lot of people said couldn't be done. We're doing it because families are relying on us to get this done. We've had many meetings with President Trump, including the last one with the Speaker and the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee [Jason] Smith, Chairman of Energy and Commerce Committee [Brett] Guthrie last week in the Oval Office to finalize some of the final pieces of this bill. A lot of work has gone into getting 11 committees ready to complete all of their work today. By the end of today, think about that: 11 committees.

“When we did this in 2017, which is an important bill, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, to get economic growth, to get our economy moving again, to create jobs, to put more money in the paychecks of workers. There were only two committees involved in that back in 2017. There's 11 involved this time. Each one of them has hit their mark. And by the end of today, all of them will have exceeded the things that they were asked by us to do, and they will be delivering a great product for all Members of Congress to vote on.” 

On reconciliation benefitting lower and middle-income American families:

“Now, we all know not all Members of Congress will vote for that bill. But everybody who casts a no vote is going to have some tough questions to answer back home. Why would you vote against tax relief for work and families? You can lie all day long, as the Whip pointed out, about the rich and the billionaires. The rich and the billionaires are always going to figure out how to get through whatever the tax code looks like. You know who can't figure out every single component of it, especially if a tax goes up on you? It's the lower and middle-income families of America who have been struggling. We were losing our middle class before 2017, when we finally lowered rates for those hardworking families. We saw the benefits primarily to lower and middle-income families.

“They would be the ones hit the hardest if this bill were not to pass. Luckily, we're going to come together and figure it out as we have every step of the way to get this done for the American people, because failure is not an option. We're going to get our economy moving again. We will give President Trump the resources he needs to keep our border secure. Now that he has secured it, he needs additional tools for our border patrol agents. We're going to make America energy independent again. It's in this bill. We're going to remove the threat of a debt crisis in this bill. So many other important things. We're getting people back to work in this bill. It's an important piece of legislation, but I want to commend all the committees, all 11 committees who have worked hours and hours tirelessly, get their work done, starting with the leadership of President Trump, making sure that every step of the way, when there were questions, when there were final decisions that had to be made, he was always one phone call away, and he'll continue to be. This process isn't over. We're just getting close to maybe halftime. When we pass this bill next week through the House, it'll go to the Senate. They'll do their work. But we will get this bill to President Trump's desk before the July Fourth deadline that the White House has asked for.”

On the leadership of Speaker Johnson:

“The reason that we've been able to hit all of these marks is because in every meeting, and I've been in all these meetings, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has been about as patient of a man as I've seen, listening to our Members. Believe me, you know this, we have Members that have a lot of different points of view, have a lot of different views on how the bill should be put together. They are not ashamed to express those views, but at the end of the day, we've all got to come together. He has brought our Members together on every tough issue. There are a lot of tough issues. Might be one remaining to solve, but we've gotten through every one of them because he's had the patience of Job and continues to lead us in the right direction for those families who are counting on us.”

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