Sensenbrenner family and the barr family with the tragic losses they have endured in the last 48 hours. It was powerful testimony received last week as well from mr. Floyd and mr. Underwoods sister, and we have continued to see in this country, individual and institutional tragedies that must move us to act. Otherwise, they will persist. We are not helpless. People in the streets feel helpless. They feel like they are not being listened to. But we are not helpless. We are elected to bring the change that they are calling for. But i think it is important for us to calibrate were all of us are at because it sounds like my colleagues on the others want to welcome and embrace and work with us on needed Police Reforms. Not to say all cops are bad cops. But that we are seeing two men exceptions today. I say that as the son of a police chief, the brother to two Police Officers, and a former prosecutor myself. Things have to change. No one is talking about, in this the police. Talking about policing the police and fixing the police, and reforming the police. Why i say we need to calibrate where we are all that, i have heard my colleagues on this site say black lives matter. Side say black lives matter. I will be honest that when that Movement First emerged, i didnt necessarily understand what that meant. I heard people say, all lives matter, and i said, all lives matter, right . People would say i have white privilege, and i said i grew up living in 13 different houses going to 11 different schools, first in my family to go to college. There was no privilege there. Then it was explained to me by my africanamerican friends that even though you and some of your friends may have had hardships, your opportunities were not limited because of the color of your skin. That is what people say when they talk about white privilege, is real andd should be acknowledged. The founder of black lives matter, alicia garza says black lives matter doesnt mean your life isnt important. It means that black lives , which are seen as without value, are important to your liberation. Given the disproportionate that stay violence has on black lives, we understand when black people in this country get free, the benefits will be wide reaching and transformative for society as a whole. When we are able to end the hyper criminalization and the sexualization of black people and control the surveillance of black people, every Single Person in this world has a better shot of getting and staying free. When black people get free, everyone gets free. Black lives matter. Period. So i would yield to any of my colleagues on the republican side who can unequivocally say as we calibrate we are right now where we are right now that black lives matter. Does the gentleman believe that all lives matter . Can anyone on the republican side say unequivocally black lives matter . Unequivocally, all lives matter. Why is that a problem to acknowledge . Reclaiming my time. I think it is clear that my colleagues on the others dont want to have the uncomfortable conversation we need to have about legs. About race. Typically, in police shootings, most of the folks is on the conduct of the officers and we dont get to the harder part, about the systemic issues we have in our country. Nobody is disputing with the what the officer did here with mr. Floyd should be defended. So we have to have the harder conversation about systemic issues and policing. Instead, we get this strawman of, well, youre trying to defund the police. Nowhere in this legislation is anyone seeking to defund the police. Until you are willing to get rid of the strawman, get rid of the confusion, get it of the get rid of the different tactics you are using to avoid the hard conversation about race in america, we are not going to get where we need to be to have equality, not just in policing food in jobs and education. Not just in policing, but in food, jobs, and education. Black lives matter. Black lives do matter. Unequivocally. Every life is important unequivocally. Thank you. I yield back. Chair nadler the gentleman yields back. Mr. Jordan . Jordan i support the gentleman from north dakotas amendment. It is a good amendment. And the gentleman from florida, mr. Gaetz, is right on target. But the fbi general does not have to record the conversation . That does not make sense. Especially when you know the facts around the conversation that took place. On january 24 of 2017, the agent on the Michael Flynn case, a threestar general who served our country, the agent on the case said you want to drop this case. There is nothing here. They did not want to pursue it. But what happened . The director of the fbi told the agents, no, dont drop the case. Youre going after Michael Flynn. We are going after Michael Flynn. The next day, january 5, 2017, thenomey meets with president obama talks about Michael Flynn and what happened 19 days later . These agents are snuck into the white house. Mr. Comey does follow the proper protocols or process and doesnt advise the white house counsel. He sneaks them into set up Michael Flynn, and there was no recording of that interview. There is the 302 note. And guess what they do with the notes . They change them months later and prosecute a general, prosecute an american citizen based on that. And all the gentleman is asking is, lets fix that. Lets have the audio recording of the conversation that took place. And the democrats say, we need to study it. What . Lets just pass it. As mr. Gaetz said, lets get with the times. Lets get with the times. We are doing a virtual hearing and we cannot even see half the democrats were supposed to be participating. Who are supposed to be participating. But somehow, the fbi can interview american citizens on something that turned out not to be a crime. We know there was nothing there, because the Justice Department said theres nothing there, we are dropping the case. And you guys want to study, making an audio recording of those types of interviews. This is as basic and straightforward as it gets. The gentleman from north dakota knows what he is talking about. He has worked in this area. So lets adopt this amendment, commonsense, thoughtful, good amendment that needs to have needs to happen in light of what we have lived through the last three years. What we now know took place. This is as straightforward as it gets. I would urge the adoption of the amendment. Im happy to yield the remaining two minutes to my colleague from florida, if he still seeks sometime. Thank the gentleman. I would just add in the effort we are here to offer amendments from north dakota that would applied all americans equally, would applied to would apply to all americans equally, as we are here to craft legislation, like the theatrics of serving up question on a political theme, seem to be a bit misplaced. It would be as if i were willing to yield to any democrat willing to say that Blue Lives Matter. Right . Not super productive. If we acknowledge all lives matters, there are definitely problems in our society we have to solve that the congresswoman bass has put together some very compelling ideas we should evaluate in good faith. That the president has already acted on some of the congresswomans ideas by trying to get to the root of these problems. I hope that would be the way we would continue the hearing. I yield back to the gentleman from ohio. I yield back. Chair nadler the gentleman yields back. [indiscernible] thank you, mr. Chairman. We are here today for george floyd, breonna taylor, john williams, and all the names that we will never know whose lives were cut short by police. We are here to answer the cries for justice we have heard in the streets across the country. With this bill, george floyd the justice and policing act, a bill that the New York Times has called the most aggressive intervention in policing in recent memory, and im very grateful to you, chairman nadler and congresswoman bass, for your hard work to bring this bill forward. In my district, people are are more of color likely to have police point a firearm at them than white people. Black people accounted for nearly 29 of the incidents of use of force. We have been under a dissent decree for eight years, and while we have made some important progress, the truth is, we are far from finished. The Immediate Use of force on the street to the Peaceful Protesters and recent weeks show us the work you still need to do. Work we still need to do. What we locally track nationally, on november 2019, a report by the u. S. Commission on civil rights found an increased likelihood of police use of force against people of color, people with disabilities, lgbtq people, people with Mental Health concerns, people with low incomes, and those at the intersections of these groups. Usccr also found a troubling lack of data on the issue. A problem that leads us piecing together reports in order to understand the depth of the problems that so many black and brown people across the country already noted be true. Already know to be true. Mapping Police Violence found only 27 days in 2019 where police did not kill someone, and black people are 10 times more likely to be killed by police in white people. Than white people. And stunningly, nationally, officers were not charged with a crime in 99 in the killings by police in 2019. 2019. M 2013 to is it any wonder then that many people are heartbroken and furious that we have not done sufficient work, or really anything to address these grave injustices and the constant loss of life with no accountability . The justice and policing act is a crucial step forward to begin addressing centuries old pervasive violence against the black community in communities of color. The bill fans chokeholds like the ones used to murder george floyd. And many other things in my own state. It establishes them as a civil rights violation, bans no knock warrants for drug cases like the one used on officers murdered breonna taylor, it establishes the Public Police misconduct registry that tracks complaints at the local, state in federal local, state, and federal level, and it adopts likentability measures qualified immunity. Like reforming qualified immunity. It improves Data Collection by requiring the reporting of all incidents of use of force, stops, and searches, and the demographics of those involved. It provides grants across the country to reimagine how we ensure Community Safety for everyone, so that black mothers and fathers do not have to constantly warn their kids to stay away from Police Officers instead of seeking help from them. That cannot be our model. And this bill begins to make the changes that will allow for everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, to be safe. Some of the media some of my some in the media and some of my colleagues on this committee would like to change our focus from these essential reforms to things i digitally altered pictures on fox news that spread lies about what is happening in my district. Where Community Members have come together the Plan Community gardens and green Vision Public safety and bring muchneeded peace to an area that has long been the center of activism. Do not be distracted. Let us keep our focus on what is in this bill and what is floyd,d by philonese is not just aoyd picture on a tshirt. The justice and policing act gives access to the families of george floyd and so many others, the wrongful death of your loved ones will not be in vain. We must listen and respond to the calls of black organizers, advocates, and civil rights leaders of because our districts and countries, and do the long culture shifting work to change how we approach Public Safety. Too often, police are responding to decades of defunding, things that people really need. Mental health, housing, education, reforming a broken criminal justice system, and so much more. It is part and parcel of what must be fixed. It is not enough to say black lives matter. We must do the work. Time. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Representative bux. Rep. Bux thank you, madam chair. I want to state unequivocally that i believe black lives matter, and also want to state unequivocally that i recognize that you have lived a privileged life. And i also want to welcome you and so many others on your side of the aisle to the prolife movement. I keep hearing about the sanctity of life, and i think it is time that we deal with this issue and that we find Common Ground on other issues, and protecting life from conception to natural death is essential to the dignity of people in this country, and i welcome my friends on all of those issues. I also think that it is outstanding, and i think the i thank the gentlelady from california and the chair of the subcommittee here, ms. Bass, for recognizing the difficulty that Police Officers face in their daytoday lives, and how we as a legislative body have failed in dealing with Mental Health issues and so many other social issues, and how we place on Police Officers an unfair burden. While i believe with parts of this bill, there are parts of this bill that would place a greater burden on most Police Officers on the good Police Officers, the officers protecting our young as they go back and forth to school, who are protecting our citizens going to the store picking up a prescription, as they are protecting our citizens in their everyday lives, i think it is absolutely essential that we recognize them, and i thank the gentlelady recognizing police have such a difficult job. I have mentioned to my friend and colleague, mr. Armstrong, that i cannot support this amendment. I understand the compelling reason behind the amendment, and i believe the fbi should be held accountable for the gross misconduct that it engaged in in investigating the trump campaign. I think that when we require out of custody interviews to be recorded, we are going to seriously limit the fbis ability to carry out its mission in the antiterrorism era and so area, the white collar area, and so many other areas where it is very difficult to predict when an interview is going to take place, much less how to foster the best atmosphere for that interview. So, i have reservations about this, but i think one of the serious feelings of the do just serious failings of the Judiciary Committee in the past year and a half has been its failure to fully investigate the gross misconduct that the fbi engaged in with the trump administration, and the trump campaign. I think when you look at the actions, and what has been revealed so far in the press and in the senate, it compels this committee to study the issue, to hold hearings on the issue, to publicize, to shine light on that misconduct, and to make sure that misconduct doesnt happen again against a democratic or republican administration, and it is so unfortunate that my democratic colleagues feel that it is find a sweep something under the rug because they feel it was the target of this investigation, the target of this misconduct were republicans. And it was somebody they did not like, president trump. While you conducted a witch hunt, a partisan impeachment hearing down the line in the house, down the line vote on impeachment, you cannot even look at how a federal agency abused its power to engage in political activities, something that i think we all find incredibly offensive and sad at the that the fbis leadership would tarnish the image and the great work that is being done by so many fbi agents. Mr. Ank my colleague, armstrong, for bringing this amendment, and for shining a light on the serious problem we have in the fbi, and i look forward to making sure that we do everything we can to expose that behavior. I yield back. Thank you. Thank you. I think it is a Good Opportunity for us to regroup and remind america why we are all gathered here today. We are here, like congresswoman bass said earlier, for fundamental change, change our communities are calling for. The deaths of george floyd, breonna taylor, ahmaud arbery, and just over the weekend, Rayshard Brooks, have caused pain and more division in our country, and what the people are asking for, what they are peacefully marching for this change. All of us today have the opportunity, my colleagues, we have to have the courage to confront the crisis headon. And we have the responsibility in congress and in this committee to pass laws at the federal level that will hold Law Enforcement accountable for their actions and ensure that they are protecting and serving our communities. I know that we can all agree on that. My constituents in my district have overwhelmingly indicated to me that is what they are asking for, greater accountability. My Office Conducted a survey last week, and we got over 1200 responses from constituents on both sides of the aisle, different ages and races, and what were they all in agreement with . That they wanted to see greater accountability for officers that were accused of misconduct. And what have we seen . We have seen thousands of americans from all walks of life marching together, demanding change. What the people want to see are changes in Police Oversight and accountability for those who fail to uphold the law, and they want to know that the law is applied equally to everyone, every american citizen. I have witnessed in my area that Law Enforcement in miami and in my district are making changes. They are trying. I have met with them, and i commend a large number of officers who are working to serve and protect the people they serve food accountability people they serve. But accountability means transparency, and the efforts in this bill establishes a National Registry for Police Condu