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Dr. Joyce: We Must Restore Law and Order

October 6, 2020

Congressman John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13) today stressed the importance of restoring law and order in American cities following the heinous attack on two police officers in Los Angeles over the weekend. Watch his full remarks on the House Floor.

Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, a 31-year old mother and 24-year old man in Los Angeles were ambushed. They were shot at point-blank range by a coward who targeted them for no reason except for the uniform that they wear.

These two police officers were attacked in the very community that they serve, the community that they have sworn to protect.

It's hard to believe that this story gets worse. As these two police officers were in the hospital, fighting for their lives, protestors stood outside blocking ambulance entrances and chanting, "We hope they die."

What has become of American cities? When did this behavior become acceptable or even fathomable?

This ambush demonstrates a total disregard for human life it is an affront to our American values.

Thankfully, by the grace of God and the skill of first responders and trauma medical teams, these brave police officers are expected to recover from their injuries. We are fortunate that they are on the mend, and my prayers are with them on their road to recovery.

Frankly, this time we were fortunate. This time, we expect that a mother will return home to her family, we expect that a young police officer will return to his normal life.

This time we were fortunate, but what about the next time? Will we let this happen again?

Mr. Speaker, as a nation we cannot allow this malicious and wicked behavior to continue. We cannot stand by as police officers are shot at point-blank range, we cannot stand by while protestors yell "We hope they die" at critically injured public servants.

We must restore law and order to all American cities.

In this chamber, we should dispense with the Democrats' political games and enact commonsense, bipartisan solutions, such as the JUSTICE Act introduced by Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Pete Stauber, to increase police transparency and accountability while supporting our law enforcement community and equipping them with the resources they need to safely protect our communities.

We cannot stand on the sidelines and leave our law enforcement officers vulnerable to attacks. This is not the time to turn our backs on the police, this is not the time to dismantle the police, and this is definitely not the time to defund the police.

We must protect the American people, we must restore law and order, and we must back the blue. Thank you, and I yield.

Watch Dr. Joyce's full remarks.

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Issues:Congress