Sen. Cruz Commemorates National Police Week, Secures Unanimous Passage of Bipartisan Amendment Honoring the Integrity of Police Officers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today released the following video statement commemorating National Police Week:

WATCH: Sen. Cruz Commemorates National Police Week 2021

In the video, Sen. Cruz said:

"As we celebrate police week today, we all take a pause from our busy days to say thank you to the men and women of law enforcement, to the heroic men and women who every day put on a uniform, wear a badge, wear a gun, and head out into the world to keep us safe.

"Every day you risk your lives protecting our families, protecting our homes, protecting our children. Every day as you leave in the morning, you kiss your spouse goodbye, you kiss your kids goodbye, and your family doesn't know if you'll come home that night. You do this because of duty. You do this because of honor and integrity.

"And today, during police week and every day, we say, ‘Thank you, we love you. We are grateful for you. We stand with you.' And to the men and women of law enforcement, ‘We have your back.'"

Sen. Cruz is a proud cosponsor of the National Police Week resolution led by Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) honoring the men and women of law enforcement, and at the Senate Judiciary Committee's executive business meeting on Thursday, he offered an amendment to a law enforcement bill further expressing respect for law enforcement officers across the country who serve with "valor, dignity, and integrity."

Upon introducing this amendment in committee, Sen. Cruz said:

"This amendment is straightforward, it simply adds to the end of this bill a sense of Congress that, ‘federal, state, local and tribal police officers, sheriffs and other law enforcement officers across the United States serve with valor, dignity and integrity.' Now, if this language is familiar to members of the committee, there should be a reason for it, because every member of the committee has voted for this exact language multiple times."

[...]

"This year's resolution for police week unfortunately deleted that language at the insistence of Democratic senators. Instead, it acknowledges the valor, dignity and integrity, but only of those officers who died in the course of duty. So apparently those officers who have not been killed in the course of duty, something has changed. And the Senate does not want to acknowledge their valor, dignity and integrity, given that this committee just voted to confirm a nominee to the Department of Justice who is said in writing, ‘the Klan is now the police with blue uniforms replacing the sheets and hoods.' I don't think it's an accident that that language was deleted from this week's police week resolution. We ought to be able to recognize that the vast majority of men and women serving in law enforcement are, as the Senate has said each year for the last five years, ‘serving with valor, dignity and integrity.' And I would urge the committee to adopt this amendment."

The amendment passed unanimously after Senator Cruz accepted a friendly amendment by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) slightly altering the language to emphasize that officers who serve with valor, dignity and integrity "deserve the gratitude and respect of Congress."

WATCH: Sen. Cruz Commemorates National Police Week, Secures Passage of Amendment Honoring Police Officers

Watch his full exchange in committee here.

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