OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

An American Problem

Floor Speech

Date: July 7, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Infrastructure Federal, State and Local Relations Legal Criminal Justice

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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I made a request in the Judiciary Committee to our chairperson to have hearings on this issue. We have a bill that would require each State to set up a system of independent prosecutors to look at law enforcement killings, shootings.

The fact is an Attorney General can't look at a law enforcement shooting without prejudicing their ability to do their jobs. They work hand in glove with law enforcement, and if they have to police law enforcement, they have a problem in effectively doing their jobs later on.

We have asked that each State set up a system of independent prosecutors so people know there is justice and fairness and oversight. That is reasonable, and we should have hearings.

What happened in Baton Rouge, what happened in Minnesota has happened in New York, has happened in North Charleston. It has happened in Cleveland, Ohio. It has happened in Memphis, Tennessee. And African American men are subject to being shot for reasons that others aren't.

Police need to be more careful, and we need to see that our country takes this, as President Obama has in his statement from Europe: this is an American problem.

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