Bacon, 60 colleagues demand DOJ distribute school safety funds
America’s schools are still waiting on the distribution of federal school safety grants approved earlier this year by Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) needs to speed up the process, said U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) and a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
“Just earlier this month, we saw yet another horrific massacre in one of our nation’s schools,” Rep. Bacon said in a May 30 statement referring to the May 18 shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas in which 10 people died and 13 were wounded.
“Congress has responded to these tragedies by passing and appropriating funds through the STOP School Violence Act, which provides money to schools for increased security, training, and technology,” but DOJ hasn’t yet doled out the funds, the congressman said.
Rep. Bacon, along with U.S. Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL), who on Jan. 30 introduced the STOP School Violence Act of 2018, H.R. 4909; the original cosponsors of the bill – U.S. Reps. Harold Rogers (R-KY), Derek Kilmer (D-WA), and Ted Deutch (D-FL) – and dozens more colleagues sent a May 29 letter to U.S. Attorney General (AG) Jeff Sessions urging that the DOJ quickly release the school security grant program funds approved in March in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Omnibus bill.
“Once fully implemented, these initiatives will provide new sources of funding for programs, technology, and equipment that enhance school safety, including threat assessment teams, safety infrastructure, and training for students, teachers and law enforcement to help identify signs of violence and teach early intervention methods to prevent violence from occurring in the first place,” the lawmakers wrote.
Also among those who signed the letter were U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis (R-IL), Barbara Comstock (R-VA), Fred Upton (R-MI), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Bruce Poliquin (R-ME), Dave Joyce (R-OH), Steve Stivers (R-OH), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Susan Brooks (R-IN), Tom MacArthur (R-NJ), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Mike Bishop (R-MI), Jim Renacci (R-OH), Andy Barr (R-KY), and Lynn Jenkins (R-KS).
The lawmakers concluded that the sooner FY2018 resources are made available, “the sooner we are taking real action to keep our school campuses safe from harm.”
“Through this bipartisan effort, I hope Attorney General Sessions understands the need for this funding and acts quickly so we can protect our students and teachers,” said Rep. Bacon in a joint statement with Rep. Rutherford.
“We must act quickly to prevent the horrific tragedies we have experienced in Parkland, Florida, and now again in Santa Fe, Texas,” added Rep. Rutherford. “As a former sheriff and career law enforcement officer, I know firsthand the importance of taking a multilayer approach to ensuring the safety of our schools and our communities.”
The congressman said DOJ should act quickly to issue the necessary guidance for the grants and work with community partners so that states, localities and tribes know how to access the new resources they have available to them. “There is no time to waste,” Rutherford said.
In total, 46 Republicans and 15 Democrats signed onto the bipartisan letter sent to AG Sessions.
Source: Ripon Advance