[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 14, 2018)] [House] [Pages H1559-H1566] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] {time} 1300 STUDENT, TEACHERS, AND OFFICERS PREVENTING SCHOOL VIOLENCE ACT OF 2018 Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4909) to reauthorize the grant program for school security in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 4909 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018'' or the ``STOP School Violence Act of 2018''. SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL SECURITY. Part AA of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10551 et seq.) is amended-- (1) in section 2701 (34 U.S.C. 10551)-- (A) in subsection (a)-- (i) by striking ``Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services'' and inserting ``Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance''; and (ii) by striking ``including the placement and use of metal detectors and other deterrent measures'' and inserting ``through evidence-based strategies and programs to prevent violence, which may include the use of appropriate technologies, including the placement and use of metal detectors and other deterrent measure and emergency notification and response technologies''; (B) in subsection (b)-- (i) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting after ``through'' the following: ``evidence-based school safety programs that may include''; and (ii) by striking paragraphs (1) through (6) and inserting the following: ``(1) Training to prevent student violence against others and self, including training for local law enforcement officers, school personnel, and students. ``(2) The development and operation of anonymous reporting systems for threats of school violence, including mobile telephone applications, hotlines, and internet websites. ``(3) The development and operation of-- ``(A) school threat assessment and intervention teams that may include coordination with law enforcement agencies and school personnel; and ``(B) specialized training for school officials in responding to mental health crises. ``(4) Coordination with local law enforcement. ``(5) Placement and use of metal detectors, locks, lighting, and other deterrent measures. ``(6) Security assessments. ``(7) Security training of personnel and students. ``(8) Subgrants to State or local law enforcement agencies, schools, school districts, nonprofit organizations, or Indian tribal organizations to implement grants awarded under this section. ``(9) Acquisition and installation of technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency. ``(10) Any other measure that, in the determination of the Director, may provide a significant improvement in security.''; (C) in subsection (c)-- (i) by striking ``and has'' and inserting ``has''; and (ii) by inserting before the period at the end the following: ``, and will use evidence-based strategies and programs, such as those identified by the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative of the Department of Justice''; and (D) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ``50 percent'' and inserting ``75 percent''; (2) in section 2702 (34 U.S.C. 10552)-- (A) in subsection (a)(2), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking ``child psychologists'' and inserting ``mental health professionals''; and (B) in subsection (b), by striking ``this part'' and inserting ``the STOP School Violence Act of 2018''; (3) in section 2704(1) (34 U.S.C. 10554(1)), by striking ``a public'' and inserting ``an''; (4) in section 2705, by striking ``$30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 2009'' and inserting ``$75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2028, of which not less than $50,000,000 shall be available in each such fiscal year for grants for the activities described in paragraphs (1) and (4) of section 2701(b)''; and (5) by adding at the end the following: ``SEC. 2706. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. ``(a) No Funds to Provide Firearms or Training.--No amounts provided as a grant under this part may be used for the provision to any person of a firearm or training in the use of a firearm. ``(b) No Effect on Other Laws.--Nothing in this part may be construed to preclude or contradict any other provision of law authorizing the provision of firearms or training in the use of firearms.''. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Poe of Texas). Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia. General Leave Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 4909, currently under consideration. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Virginia? There was no objection. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of H.R. 4909, the STOP School Violence Act of 2018. Violence at our schools makes students feel vulnerable in a place where they should feel comfortable to learn, grow, and be happy. To curb violence at our Nation's schools, the STOP School Violence Act provides a multilayered approach to identify threats and prevent violence from taking place on school grounds. It provides much-needed resources to train students, teachers, and law enforcement officers on how to recognize and quickly respond to warning signs, and provides funding for technology to keep schools safe. Eighty percent of school shooters told someone of their violent plans or exhibited warning signs. The bill before us today will ensure that students, [[Page H1560]] teachers, and law enforcement will learn how to identify at-risk behaviors, properly assess threats, and intervene appropriately before a tragedy strikes. The STOP School Violence Act provides funding for training to prevent student violence against others and self, including training for local law enforcement officers, school personnel, and students. Prevention training gives students and school personnel the ability to recognize and respond quickly to warning signs of school violence and includes active shooter training. The bill provides funding for technology and equipment to improve school security and prevent attacks. This includes the development and operation of anonymous reporting systems, such as mobile apps, a hotline, and a website. Funding may also be used for metal detectors, locks, lighting, and other technologies to keep schools safe. The bill also supports the acquisition and installation of technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency. The legislation also contains funding for school threat assessment and crisis intervention teams so that school personnel can respond to threats before they materialize. Finally, the STOP School Violence Act provides funding to support law enforcement coordination efforts and, in particular, those officers who already staff schools. The version of the bill before us today is the result of a collaborative effort of many of my colleagues who worked with Mr. Rutherford to incorporate many of their ideas. I would like to point out the important contributions of Representatives Susan Brooks, Coffman, Chabot, Granger, Rodney Davis, Messer, and Bost, including many key elements of legislation that they have introduced into this bill that have made the bill stronger. Finally, I want to thank Mr. Rutherford and the bipartisan group of cosponsors for their work on this important bill, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4909. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4909, the STOP School Violence Act, as amended. But I do so with serious concerns about some of its provisions, and mostly about what the bill fails to do. H.R. 4909 would authorize $50 million annually for grants administered by the Department of Justice to fund various training and other initiatives intended to enhance school safety. It would authorize another $25 million annually to be used for other related purposes, including physical improvements, such as metal detectors, better locks, and systems for schools to notify law enforcement of emergencies. The bill is fine as far as it goes, and we should certainly do more to make our schools safer, but it is shameful that we must do so because of our failure to reduce the threat of gun violence to children. It should be unacceptable to all of us that we must take steps to train staff and students to protect themselves against these types of incidents instead of spending more money on actually educating our young people. This bill does not include any provisions to strengthen our gun laws or to help keep guns out of the hands of those who should not possess them. Evidence and experience tell us that we must establish universal background checks instead of the flawed system we now have. We should encourage States to adopt laws providing for extreme risk protection orders, and we must ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. These steps would help prevent not only school shootings, but would reduce the daily toll of gun violence in our communities. None of these critical provisions are included in this bill, which was never examined by the Judiciary Committee either through a hearing or a legislative markup session. Had we taken these steps, which we could have done quickly in the exactly 1 month since the tragic Parkland, Florida, shooting, we might have produced a much better bill for floor consideration. The suspension version of the bill does include an explicit prohibition against the funds being used on firearms or firearms training. Because President Trump and others in the administration have indicated that they believe arming teachers is part of the solution to this problem, it was important to my colleagues and to me that we be assured that this program, at least, will not be used for such a purpose which would actually endanger students, not make them safer. However, we should have addressed serious concerns that have come to our attention with respect to the anonymous tip reporting systems and threat assessment and intervention teams that would be funded by this bill. We want people to report information about someone who may present a danger to students, but the bill does not include requirements that these systems provide adequate due process protections for students against whom a report is made. I have longstanding concerns about the increased use of law enforcement in schools. History tells us that, without proper training, use of such policies can have a disproportionate impact on students of color and students with disabilities. In the decades since Columbine, when the Nation rushed to increase school-based law enforcement efforts, thousands of vulnerable students have entered the school-to-prison pipeline for conduct that should be treated as routine behavior violations. I fear, therefore, that efforts to increase school-based law enforcement without guardrails to ensure it is done well and based on strong evidence may repeat the risks of the past. My concern is only heightened by the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to remove important tools to ensure States and school districts understand their civil rights obligations when disciplining students. I urge Secretary DeVos and Attorney General Sessions to maintain current discipline and school resource officer guidance to ensure implementation of this bill does not exacerbate the school-to-prison pipeline. We should have had the opportunity to address these important issues through consideration in committee, but we did not. Like the sponsors of this bill, I want Congress to do more to make our schools safer. Therefore, I will support this bill today, not withstanding the serious concerns I have outlined, with the hope that we will address these concerns going forward. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Rutherford), a member of the Judiciary Committee and the chief sponsor of this legislation. Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, today the House of Representatives has a chance to take an important first step towards keeping our students and our teachers safe by passing the STOP School Violence Act. This bill is the result of bipartisan work of Representative Hal Rogers, Representative Ted Deutch, and also Representative Kilmer. We also incorporated, as we mentioned earlier, excellent ideas and key elements from legislation by Chairwoman Granger, Representatives Susan Brooks, Chabot, Rodney Davis, Messer, and Bost. I want to thank all of them for their work and commitment to this very important issue. I would also like to recognize in a very special way the dedication and passion of the parents and members of Sandy Hook Promise, who have been integral to us moving this bill forward. I really cannot say enough about that organization. As a career law enforcement officer and sheriff for 12 years in my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, I know firsthand the importance of communities working together to spot early warning signs of violence. This is why this bill invests in early intervention and prevention programs in our local schools, so that our communities and law enforcement can be partners in preventing these horrific acts from occurring. We need to give students, teachers, and law enforcement the tools and training they need to identify warning signs and to know who to contact, and [[Page H1561]] provide them an anonymous tip source to provide that information. Now, I should point out here that those receiving the tips, the agencies that are charged with providing due process, are the ones who should provide due process here, not the tipster, not the child who may be calling in to talk about an issue that he thinks is important to law enforcement. {time} 1315 That is their responsibility to provide due process to the individuals involved. This bill also gives funding for physical enhancements to help harden the target on our school campuses. I know from my law enforcement experience that security does require a multilayered approach. Our bill supports one very important layer of security for our schools. There is still much more work to be done, but the best way to keep our students and teachers safe is to give them the tools and the training to recognize those warning signs to prevent violence from ever entering our school grounds. This bill aims to do just that, Mr. Speaker. As I used to tell my community in northeast Florida when I was sheriff, I do not want to be the best first responder to an active shooter event. I want to prevent that occurrence before it happens, and that is the goal of the STOP School Violence Act. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider). Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4909, the STOP School Violence Act. Mr. Speaker, we have a fundamental responsibility to protect our young people from violence, and this package of school security improvements is an important step. In particular, this bill includes a bipartisan provision that I introduced with my friend and colleague from Illinois, Congressman Mike Bost, to help schools acquire and install panic buttons in classrooms for use in emergency situations. Mr. Bost and I first introduced the Securing Our Schools Act in January, and I am proud of the support we have built from both sides of the aisle which helped get this provision included in today's school safety package. This technology will ensure students and teachers have a more immediate method of notifying law enforcement and first responders in case of a medical emergency, active school shooter incident, or natural disaster. All congressional offices have similar emergency buttons. If this technology is good enough for Members of Congress, we should be doing the same to keep our young people safe where they learn. While this bill represents progress, it is far from an adequate solution to the threat of gun violence. We now need to build on this bipartisan momentum for other urgent solutions to improve gun safety and reduce gun violence. This includes universal background checks; restrictions on the sale of bump stocks, assault weapons, and high- capacity magazines; and research into the causes of gun violence. Here in this Congress, we have the ability to save lives with commonsense legislation. We must act, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. It is a good start. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), who is a cosponsor of this legislation and former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the STOP School Violence Act. I want to congratulate Sheriff Rutherford, the original sponsor of the bill, for his dedicated work on this project, among others. In the immediate wake of last month's tragedy in Parkland, more than 15 students in my home district in eastern Kentucky were arrested. Thankfully, our students and local law enforcement acted swiftly to prevent a copycat event in our own schools. As our Nation battles this epidemic of school violence, it is imperative that we utilize our available resources to stop tragic events before they occur. But, unfortunately, too many students and officials don't have the tools they need to successfully act under similar situations. This bill takes necessary and commonsense steps to prevent school bullying, suicide, and violence, providing grant funding to States to implement proven and evidence-based trainings that detect threats before they come to fruition. In most cases of school suicides and shootings, at least one other person knew of the plan and failed to report it. So these appalling events are avoidable, but we must give our schools the tools and resources they need, and this bill would do just that. Enhancing early detection, prevention, and coordination with law enforcement will save lives. There may not be one single answer to preventing all future violence in schools, but this effort is very much a part of the solution. Mr. Speaker, I was proud to join my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan legislation, and I urge my colleagues to vote for it. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. Esty). Ms. ESTY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the STOP School Violence Act. Mark Barden and Nicole Hockley each had a child killed in the first grade classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the district where I live 5 years ago. They and other parents took their grief and formed a group called the Sandy Hook Promise. That group has been working tirelessly for over 5 years now, and the bill we address here today is largely a testament to the hard work that they have put in working with mental health professionals, school officials, and law enforcement to come up with real steps that will help save lives. The STOP School Violence Act will not save every life threatened by gun violence, but it will save some, and we need to do what we can. But let me be very clear. This needs to be the first step of many steps we can and should be taking in this House to address the scourge of gun violence. We have enormous support for bipartisan comprehensive background checks, for a Fix NICS bill, and for banning of bump stocks. This needs to be the first of a long line of steps that this Congress owes to the American people and owes to the students gathered on the lawn of the Capitol today and in every classroom throughout America. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), who is a member of the Judiciary Committee and chairman of the Small Business Committee. Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Goodlatte, Majority Leader McCarthy, and Congressman Rutherford for their leadership on this important legislation. Over the years, our Nation's schools have become soft targets for any would-be killer who has gotten access to a gun. We need to do a better job of protecting both students and faculty from these increasingly frequent threats. This legislation combines school safety provisions included in two bills, one originally introduced by Mr. Rutherford, and the other by me. Together this proposal represents a collection of commonsense solutions to better help protect our students, our teachers, and other faculty in our schools. H.R. 4909 reauthorizes the COPS Secure Our Schools grant program and more than doubles its annual budget from $30 million to $75 million annually. Of that $75 million, not less than $50 million per year will be made available for evidence-based strategies and programs to prevent violence in public or private schools over the next decade. Among the security measures for which these grants may be used include additional training to ensure the health and well-being of students, the development of more robust threat reporting systems, and investments in more advanced security technologies. Additionally, the COPS Secure Our Schools grants can be used in conjunction with the COPS Hiring Program to ensure that our schools have both the security measures and personnel in place to prevent future violence. On Monday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice will use the COPS Hiring Program to increase the number of school resource officers nationwide. The legislation we are considering [[Page H1562]] today could help that effort by allowing schools to hire retired police officers to provide security if the Department of Justice determines that such plans would provide a significant improvement in school security. Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Dan Hils, president of the Cincinnati FOP, for actively engaging on the issue of school safety and for bringing these types of forward-thinking solutions to my attention. He has been a tremendous resource throughout this process. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleague to support this measure. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutch), who is a sponsor of this legislation. Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from New York. Mr. Speaker, the trauma that my community in Parkland, Florida, experienced was not unique. Gun violence tears apart American communities on a daily basis. So, no, what happened on February 14 when 14 students and three teachers were hunted in their schools with an AR- 15 assault rifle by a former student, that wasn't unique. But the problem of gun violence in America is a uniquely American problem. It is an epidemic. It is a complex problem. There are many facets. But we know what we need to do, and I am committed to taking any step to getting any new policy across the finish line that will make our kids safer. This bill, the STOP School Violence Act, is a good bill. It will not solve our gun problem. It won't ban bump stocks or require Americans to be 21 to buy a gun, fix our broken background check system, or get weapons of war--the weapons of choice for mass shooters--off our streets and out of our communities. But it will help troubled students who need help get help, and it will help teachers and law enforcement identify potential threats before it is too late. Before we vote, I would like to make a few things clear. First, this isn't a response to the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. In fact, Congressman Rutherford and I introduced this bill a week before the shooting. The programs in this bill are based on rigorous, evidence- based evaluation. They are proven to help reduce isolation and identify kids who need help. We had no idea at the time that we wouldn't be able to move fast enough to stop this tragedy. We had no idea that we would have an urgent need to help get more American schools access to these programs. But since Congress has failed the American people by ignoring the deadly scourge of gun violence, since we failed the families of Stoneman Douglas just like we failed the families of Sandy Hook, Columbine, and so many others, we owe it to students and teachers across this country to at least give them tools to help identify dangerous behavior. The failure of Congress to take action in response to gun violence has left the American gun violence debate in a ridiculous place. Armed teachers in every hallway? Is that what we want education to be in America? No. I am glad this bill includes a specific prohibition against the use of grant dollars to arm school personnel, including teachers, or to train school personnel to use firearms. Since Congress has failed the American people by ignoring the scourge of gun violence and failed the families of Stoneman Douglas, the failure of Congress to take action has left us in this position of debating gun violence where we are hesitant to even take small steps. This is a small and important step. I have heard civil rights concerns related to racial profiling and discrimination associated with threat assessments in anonymous reporting, and I am sensitive to those. Congress should never be in a position to make this serious problem worse with new programs to expand the discrimination already entrenched in our school system and society as a whole. I know the evidence shows that discriminatory discipline in schools can have dramatic, long-term effects on academic performance and wide- ranging impact. But this bill, Mr. Speaker, does not perpetuate discriminatory policies. Zero tolerance and other questionable discipline policies are not evidence based, and, as such, would not be considered a proper use of grant funds. STOP School Violence program grants are not intended to be used to discipline students. Instead, threat assessment intervention protects potential victims and addresses the underlying problems to make schools safe for everyone. Finally, studies on evidence-based school threat assessment intervention practices have shown that these programs actually decrease racial profiling, bullying, suicides, and suspensions. I am proud of the bipartisan work that has gone into this bill, and once we have taken this step--this astonishingly modest yet important first step--we must finally do our jobs and work together to make meaningful changes toward stopping the epidemic of gun violence in this country. I know that this does not go far enough in terms of what we need to do. I understand that. I believe it deeply. But it is an important, bipartisan step that we should take today. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer). Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, I joined my colleagues from the Kentucky delegation here on the House floor to lead a moment of silence for the victims of a tragic school shooting at Marshall County High School in my district in Kentucky on January 23. Today I am proud to rise in support of the STOP School Violence Act, which I believe will be a critical step forward in preventing future school shootings like the tragedies we witnessed in Marshall County, Kentucky, and, of course, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. {time} 1330 In the wake of the Marshall County shooting, I heard from the families of victims and other members of the community that their top priority was enhancing physical security, whether that means installing metal detectors, hiring school resource officers, or making other evidence-based improvements to prevent and mitigate school violence. This bill will provide resources to schools so that they can do just that while also supporting training for students, teachers, and local law enforcement to identify and prevent violence in our schools. The Marshall County community is resilient. As we continue to mourn the loss of two young lives in our community along with those in Parkland, we will also fight to protect our students, educators, and communities. I believe the STOP School Violence Act will help defend our schools from those who wish to inflict harm on others, and I urge my colleagues to support this important and bipartisan bill. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on each side. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Virginia has 8 minutes remaining. The gentleman from New York has 9 minutes remaining. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost). Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4909, the STOP School Violence Act, which includes my bipartisan legislation to increase access to emergency panic buttons in the classroom. I want to thank Mr. Rutherford for his bill before us today, and my friend from Illinois (Mr. Schneider) for partnering with me on the school safety language we had included in this bill. As a father and a grandfather, I know firsthand how important it is that our Nation's children have a safe environment to grow and learn. As a former first responder, I know that response time is vitally important during any emergency situation. This bill makes it much easier for schools to increase their security and provide lifesaving technology to contact first responders immediately when violence or any other emergency occurs. We already have panic buttons to protect our investments at our banks. Well, there is no greater investment in the country than our children. We should be doing the best to protect them, too, and this legislation is a step in the right direction. [[Page H1563]] Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), the ranking member of the Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee. Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished ranking member, the chairman of the committee, and the proponents of this bill. I acknowledge their commitment and certainly their sincerity. Mr. Speaker, I joined the thousands of young people today on the west side of the Capitol as they came from schools throughout this region to stand for 17 minutes to acknowledge those who lost their lives in Florida at a high school. That should not have been their destiny. It should not have been their destiny to die in a bloody massacre in their school. It should not have been the destiny of those in the Pulse nightclub, Sutherland Springs, Columbine, Las Vegas, Texas Tech, the streets of Houston in my district, Chicago, or any other place. This bill is not about preventing the unsafe use of guns. Guns kill. The young people today made it very clear that they will not stop until we have real gun safety legislation barring the AR-15 and we have universal background checks. At the same time, I believe these bills of our colleagues are important legislative initiatives. So, in tribute to these individuals who have passed, but also the Members, I believe the STOP School Violence Act of 2017 is a ready response to aspects of school safety and security that are very important. One of the unique aspects of this bill that I think should be noted is the language in the bill itself that indicates it is through evidence-based strategies and programs to prevent violence, which may include the use of appropriate technologies. The bill readily acknowledges many aspects of school safety. The AFT and the National School Boards Association are two of the supporters of this legislation. But it does not answer totally the question of the parent who said: ``I didn't get a chance that morning to say good-bye to my daughter.'' We must address the question of gun violence. I believe it is important that we put a stop to children evacuating schools, like this one, and for us to be able to address a real, nonpartisan, bipartisan response to the proliferation of guns, whether it means enforcing gun laws, lifting the age to 21, or banning bump stocks, all points we thought the President was supporting but, unfortunately, he is not. I do want to raise the point of the tip line. I think it is extremely important, as long as it is guided by teachers, counselors, and mental health experts. We must be very sure that we do not have racial disparities where the largest percentage of individuals impacted by the tip line may be African-American youth, Hispanic youth, or Muslim youth. We know that racial disparities are real because the largest percentage of those who are sent to detention or juvenile centers happen to be African-American children, young boys and girls, which I really believe is something that has to stop. In addition, it is important that we comply with civil rights law. I think the advocates of civil rights organizations like the Legal Defense Fund are absolutely right. There must be a standard where the civil rights of these children are not violated on this tip line and that due process is provided for them. We must make a statement here today that, as we support this legislation, we do not intend to support legislation that we skew to be biased toward these young people. These young people in impoverished neighborhoods and schools, Mr. Speaker, deserve to learn as well. But we want safe schools. Those safe schools can be had with the beginning of this infrastructure. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman from Texas has expired. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from Texas an additional 30 seconds. Ms. JACKSON LEE. We can begin with this question of school safety and a tip line and best evidence and best practices. We can begin with grants to ensure the safety of our schools. We can allow schools to make choices about what will make them more safe. At the same time, we must safeguard our children and their rights. We must answer the cry of the children. We will not finish our task until we have real gun safety legislation. Enough is enough. It is time to act now. I need my Republican brothers and sisters to work with me. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the Legal Defense and Education Fund and a news article published in the New York on March 13, 2018. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Washington, DC, March 12, 2018. Re H.R. 4909, the STOP School Violence Act of 2018. Hon. Paul Ryan, Speaker, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Speaker Ryan and Leader Pelosi: On behalf of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), we write to express our concerns with H.R. 4909, the Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018 (the STOP School Violence Act or Act). This bill will fail to achieve its goal of improving school safety and will instead create more dangerous conditions for students, especially students of color. Founded in 1940 by Thurgood Marshall, LDF is the nation's oldest civil rights law organization. For almost 80 years, LDF has relied on the Constitution and federal and state civil rights laws to pursue equality and justice for African Americans and other people of color. Since the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which LDF litigated and won, we have continued to represent students of color to ensure they receive quality and equitable educational opportunities. Unfortunately, we all have too much experience dealing with the aftermath of school shootings. After the incidents in Columbine, CO and Sandy Hook, CT, families, school districts, and lawmakers took a variety of actions intended to prevent future tragedies. In studying these actions and their consequences, we can see which efforts work, and which do not. The STOP School Violence Act does not do enough to ensure that effective methods that protect all students are used by our nation's schools and risks furthering racial disparities in education. The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service have published a guide (the ED/SS Guide) to maintaining safe schools, recommending the following steps: 1. Systematically surveying students, teachers, and other stakeholders about the emotional climate of a school to be able to continuously assess and improve school climate; 2. Encouraging students and teachers to respectfully listen to each other; 3. Ensuring that students feel comfortable speaking with adults in the school community; 4. Preventing and addressing bullying through promotion of pro-social behaviors; 5. Involving students and staff in the maintenance of a culture of safety and respect; 6. Ensuring all students have a trusting relationship with at least one adult at school; and 7. Creating mechanisms for developing and maintaining safe school climates. The ED/SS guide emphasizes that safe and secure school environments are created only through focusing on maintaining a respectful and supportive school environment where students' emotional and academic needs are met, with things like effective threat assessment only a small part. These recommendations are supported by other experts. To effectively make schools safer, the STOP Schools Act should provide grants to states and districts to help cultivate these positive environments. To do this, the Act should focus on expanding resources, such as school counselors, mental health services, social workers, and proven programs, such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and restorative practices, and prohibit assigning law enforcement to schools. Instead, the Act provides grants to states and school districts to improve school security by providing training to prevent student violence, including for law enforcement officers, school personnel, and students; developing and operating anonymous reporting systems for threats of school violence; developing and operating school threat assessment and intervention teams that may include coordination with law enforcement agencies and school personnel, and specialized training for school officials in responding to mental health crises; coordinating with law enforcement; using metal detectors, locks, lighting, and other deterrent measures; implementing security assessments and training; installing technology for expedited notification of law enforcement during an emergency; and taking ``any other measures that . . . may provide a significant improvement in security.'' These provisions are only a small part of the strategy that experts recommend for maintaining safe school environments, and as written, [[Page H1564]] the provisions have a high risk of exacerbating race-based disparities in how students are treated by school police and staff. The Act's language regarding coordination with law enforcement and allowing any measures that ``may'' provide more security will allow school districts to use the grant funding to increase law enforcement presence rather than on evidence-based interventions. Research has shown that having more police in schools does not make schools safer, but, results in an increasing number of students being led from schools to the justice system. Although Black and Latinx students do not misbehave more than White students, students of color make up over 58% of school-based arrests, but only 40% of public school enrollment. Black students are more than twice as likely as their White peers to be referred to law enforcement or arrested at school. Additionally, research shows that police officers perceive Black youth as older and more culpable than they do similarly-situated White youth, and this bias leads to the over-criminalization of Black students. Furthermore, the presence of police in schools makes Black students and students who have been victims feel less safe, which would negatively affect school climate. To address these disparities, a clause should be added to the Act requiring that data be collected on any activities undertaken with grant funding to determine whether they are disproportionately affecting students of color or other at- risk groups. Any districts that are discriminating against students should not receive federal funding. Moreover, the Act's anonymous reporting system does not have prescribed due process or civil rights protections and could lead to more racial disparities in how students are treated at school. As the ED/SS Guide cautions, anonymous systems could lead to individuals reporting false and malicious information. It will be an easy vehicle for students or staff who hold implicit or explicit biases against students of color to report those students as being a danger to themselves or others based on discriminatory reasons. In order to protect students, the tip system should be implemented as recommended in the guide: it should be housed within a wider system of trust amongst students and staff so that all feel comfortable filing reports and providing any required additional information in assessing threats. In addition, the communications should be tracked and data disaggregated and assessed for racial disparities in threat reporting. Finally, the STOP Violence Act does not restrict its funding to public schools and does not state that all recipients of funds must comply with existing civil rights laws. The Act should include a statement that any school receiving funds under this Act complies with all federal law, including civil rights laws protecting students on the bases of race, color, national origin; sex; disability; and age. All students deserve to attend safe and welcoming schools, and we encourage you to provide states and districts with additional resources to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, the STOP School Violence Act as currently written will not improve school safety and will risk further harm to students who are already disserved by the system. Thank you for considering this letter. If you have any questions, please contact us. Respectfully submitted, Todd A. Cox, Director of Policy. Monique L. Dixon, Deputy Director of Policy. Nicole Dooley, Policy Counsel. ____ [From the New York Times, Mar. 13, 2018] Trump Finds Unlikely Culprit in School Shootings: Obama Discipline Policies (By Erica L. Green) Washington.--After a gunman marauded through Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month, conservative commentators--looking for a culprit--seized on an unlikely target: an Obama-era guidance document that sought to rein in the suspensions and expulsions of minority students. Black students have never been the perpetrators of the mass shootings that have shocked the nation's conscience nor have minority schools been the targets. But the argument went that any relaxation of disciplinary efforts could let a killer slip through the cracks. And this week, President Trump made the connection, announcing that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will lead a school safety commission charged in part with examining the ``repeal of the Obama administration's `Rethink School Discipline' policies.'' To civil rights groups, connecting an action to help minority students with mass killings in suburban schools smacked of burdening black children with a largely white scourge. ``Yet again, the Trump administration, faced with a domestic crisis, has responded by creating a commission to study an unrelated issue in order to ultimately advance a discriminatory and partisan goal,'' said Sherrilyn Ifill, the president and director-counsel at NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. ``School shootings are a grave and preventable problem, but rescinding the school discipline guidance is not the answer,'' she said. ``Repealing the guidance will not stop the next school shooter, but it will ensure that thousands more students of color are unnecessarily ushered into the school-to-prison pipeline.'' The issue of the Obama-era discipline guidance was raised formally by Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, who, after seeing a flurry of conservative news media reports, wrote a letter to Ms. DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions questioning whether the guidance allowed the shooting suspect, Nikolas Cruz, to evade law enforcement and carry out the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High. It was, on its face, an odd point: Mr. Cruz is white, and far from evading school disciplinary procedures, he had been expelled from Stoneman Douglas. ``The overarching goals of the 2014 directive to mitigate the school-to-prison pipeline, reduce suspensions and expulsions, and to prevent racially biased discipline are laudable and should be explored,'' Mr. Rubio wrote, asking that the guidance be revised. ``However, any policy seeking to achieve these goals requires basic common sense and an understanding that failure to report troubled students, like Cruz, to law enforcement can have dangerous repercussions.'' Broward County educators and advocates saw Mr. Rubio's letter as an indictment of a program called Promise, which the county instituted in 2013--one year before the Obama guidance was issued--and has guided its discipline reforms to reduce student-based arrests in Broward County, where Stoneman Douglas is. The N.A.A.C.P. said that Mr. Rubio ``notably backs away from raising the purchase age for assault-style rifles and restricting magazine capacity,'' and instead focuses on a system that once sent one million minority students to Florida jails for ``simple and routine discipline issues ranging from talking back to teachers to schoolyard scuffles.'' The program was praised by former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and echoes the goals of the 2014 Obama guidance in discouraging schools from using law enforcement as a first line of defense for low-level offenses. In the days before making his request, Mr. Rubio released a proposal that he said would remedy lapses in the Promise program and the 2014 guidance. In a tweet on Tuesday, Mr. Rubio noted that the gunman was not in the Promise program, but had displayed violent and threatening behavior. ``The more we learn, the more it appears the problem is not the program or the DOE guidance itself, but the way it is being applied,'' Mr. Rubio said, referring to the Education Department. ``It may have created a culture discourages referral to law enforcement even in egregious cases like the #Parkland shooter.'' Long before the attack in Parkland, Fla., the 2014 discipline guidelines, which encouraged schools to examine their discipline disparities and to take stock of discriminatory policies, were already on Ms. DeVos's radar-- but not because they were seen as a possible culprit in the next school shooting. Conservatives were using the Trump administration's effort to rein in federal overreach to reverse policies designed to protect against what the Obama administration had seen as discriminatory practices. The ``Rethink Discipline,'' package that Mr. Trump's commission will examine includes guidance that the Obama administration issued on the legal limitations on the use of restraints and seclusion, corporal punishment and equity for special education students. In recent months, educators and policy experts from across the country have traveled to Washington to voice support for and opposition to the disciplinary guidance, in private meetings with officials at the Education Department and in a series of public forums. At a briefing hosted by the United States Commission on Civil Rights, dozens of policy experts, researchers, educators and parents sounded off on the Obama-era discipline policy in a meeting that became so racially charged that some black attendees walked out. Since the discipline guidelines were issued, conservatives have blamed the document for creating unsafe educational environments by pressuring schools to keep suspension numbers down to meet racial quotas, even if it meant ignoring troubling and criminal behavior. Teachers who sought suspensions or expulsions of minority students were painted as racists, conservatives maintained. ``Evidence is mounting that efforts to fight the school-to- prison pipeline is creating a school climate catastrophe and has if anything put at-risk students at greater risk,'' said Max Eden, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, who argued that teacher bias was not the driving force behind school discipline. But proponents argued that racial bias was well documented. When the guidance was issued, federal data found that African-American students without disabilities were more than three times as likely as their white peers without disabilities to be expelled or suspended, and that more than 50 percent of students who were involved in school-related arrests or who were referred to law enforcement were Hispanic or African-American. ``Children's safety also includes protection from oppression and bigotry and injustice,'' Daniel J. Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the University of California at Los Angeles's Civil Rights Project, wrote in testimony to the Civil Rights Commission. ``Fear-mongering and rhetoric that criminalizes youth of color, [[Page H1565]] children from poor families and children with disabilities should not be tolerated.'' The Education and Justice Departments wrote in a 2014 Dear Colleague letter that discipline disparities could be caused by a range of factors, but the statistics in the federal data ``are not explained by more frequent or more serious misbehavior by students of color.'' The departments also noted that several civil rights investigations had verified that minority students were disciplined more harshly than their white peers for the same infractions. ``In short, racial discrimination in school discipline is a real problem,'' the guidance said. In recent months, Ms. DeVos has said change will be coming. She has already moved to rescind a regulation that protects against racial disparities in special education placements. Her goal, she said last month, was to be ``sensitive to all of the parties involved.'' In a bruising interview on ``60 Minutes'' on Sunday, Ms. DeVos said that the disproportionate discipline issue ``comes down to individual kids.'' She declined to say whether she believed that black students disciplined more harshly for the same infraction were the victims of institutional racism. ``We're studying it carefully and are committed to making sure students have opportunity to learn in safe and nurturing environments,'' she said. Ms. DeVos's office for civil rights also announced that it would scale back the scope of investigations, reversing an approach taken under the Obama administration to conduct exhaustive reviews of school districts' practices and data when a discrimination complaint was filed. But Ms. DeVos's own administration has continued to find racial disparities. In November, the Education Department found that the Loleta Union Elementary School District in California doled out harsher treatment to Native American students than their white peers. For example, a Native American student received a one-day out-of-school suspension for slapping another student on the way to the bus, in what was that student's first disciplinary referral of the year. A white student received lunch detention for slapping two students on the same day--the student's fifth and sixth referrals that year. While Mr. Cruz was repeatedly kicked out of class and ultimately expelled, it is unclear whether he was ever referred to the police for his behavior in school. However, Mr. Cruz was known to law enforcement, which never found cause to arrest him, and a report of troublesome behavior to the F.B.I. went unheeded. The Broward County superintendent, Robert Runcie, said that Mr. Rubio's effort to connect the district's discipline policies to the Stoneman Douglas shooting was misguided. ``We're not going to dismantle a program that's been successful in the district because of false information that someone has put out there,'' Mr. Runcie said on Twitter. ``We will neither manage nor lead by rumors.'' Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on H.R. 4909, the ``STOP School Violence Act of 2017.'' This important bipartisan legislation comes before us today on the one month anniversary of a senseless and tragic school massacre, which claimed 17 lives. On February 14, 2018 our world lost Alyssa Alhadeff, Martin Duque, Nicholas Dworet, Jaime Guttenberg, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup, and Peter Wang. Also lost, were three coaches: Chris Hixon, Aaron Feis, and Scott Beigel, who was also a biology teacher. Today, in their honor, you, the students organized a nationwide school walkout for gun violence prevention. Parkland wants to go down in history as more than just survivors. We in Congress can help make that happen. I was proud to stand in solidarity with you all this morning, hand- in-hand as you were armed with passion and vision; unapologetic about your stance on these issues as you continue to display your advocacy as bold, relentless and engaged leaders of our future. Mr. Speaker, they want universal background checks, and sensible legislation that will curtail gun violence, thereby, keeping guns out of their schools and out of the hands of those that threaten to take lives and wreak havoc in our churches, theatres, concerts and schools. ``When will it all stop,'' they asked. We too in Congress must evaluate ourselves and ask: when will we respond adequately? My heart goes out to students and parents all across America who find themselves routinely faced with these tragic incidents of great proportion; from Columbine to Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and Parkland; and our cities like Chicago, Baltimore and the rest of America. These are the faces of our children as they were leaving Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after the Valentine's Day deadly shooting. ``I didn't get a chance that morning to say goodbye to my daughter, but I'm here today to make sure that I'm one of the last fathers that ever has to bury their daughter or son or loved one from a senseless act of violence in a school,'' said Ryan Petty, whose daughter Alaina Petty was among the 17 killed. Mr. Petty, I hear you. I agree with my colleagues, that school safety is paramount and that is why I signed onto this bill following the Parkland school shooting. This bill is not perfect and I will address my concerns. But it is a good first step. As Ranking Member of the Judiciary Crime Subcommittee, I caution any measure that could adversely impact our constitutional rights. Had this bill went through regular order, I would have amended it with a clause that would prescribe due process or civil rights protections in the anonymous reporting system. This would allow the accused with notice and an opportunity to respond with representation. As written, this bill is amenable to abuse where false and malicious information can be reported by any staff or student who may have a bias against the accused but alarmingly, the accused has no avenue for a remedy in defending him/herself. I want to ensure that the current race-based disparities in how students are treated by school police and staff are not further exacerbated by this bill as written. H.R. 4909 provides that there be coordination with law enforcement in providing security, which will increase law enforcement presence in schools rather than use evidence-based interventions. I would like to add to this bill, a clause requiring that data be collected of any activities undertaken with grant funding to determine whether they are disproportionately affecting students of color or other at-risk groups. Research has shown, when law enforcement engage minority students, there is a high likelihood of increasing the `schoolhouse to jailhouse' track. Students of color make up over 58% of school-based arrests, but only % of public school enrollment. A judicious approach is therefore warranted in implementing this bill. Finally, any recipient of federal grants should be required to comply with all federal laws, including civil rights laws protecting students based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and age. In our quest for school safety we must always exercise due care in balancing a benefit against the backdrop of our civil liberties so that we do not repeat incidents like North Carolina, where a young girl was grabbed around the neck with one arm, by school resources officer gripping her arm with his other hand and flipping her backward out of her chair. I stand firm with students everywhere because they ``all'' are the future of America. And standing with them all no matter where they are from is a net positive for us all. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis). Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I know I am not supposed to be able to recognize people in the gallery because it is a breach of the House rules, so I won't mention to the viewers that there are a lot of students in the gallery today seeing the political process at work. This is an opportunity for everyone to get to understand what it means to affect public policy in this great country. We are glad. We want to hear more from students throughout this Nation about what they think our government can do to make this country better. I just want to come here to talk about today being exactly a month since a parent's worst nightmare came true for many in Parkland, Florida: the school they send their kids to was attacked. This issue is personal for me, as a parent and also as somebody who has experienced gun violence on a baseball field less than a year ago. I think about the same fear, the same smells, sounds, and now the same healing process that those survivors will be going through. But I can only imagine how processing those things as a teenager feels or the pain that their parents, especially those who lost a child that day, are feeling right now. I believe the only reason all of us on that baseball field are still here today is because we had someone there who was protecting us and firing back. Boy, did David Bailey, Crystal Griner, and the Alexandria Police fire back. That doesn't mean I believe all schools need the same kind of security measures, but I do believe all of our schools need to look closely at their security protocols and policies, and Congress should help them make the changes that they deem necessary. There wasn't just one failure on February 14, and as such, there can't be just one solution. This bill is one part of addressing this issue, and it is something we can and should do right now. [[Page H1566]] The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds. Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. This week, I met with Central A&M High School in my district to discuss school safety and what they need to make schools more secure. Following the tragedy at Parkland, they sent a letter to parents and students. It had a line that stood out to me, ``Safety is everybody's responsibility.'' They are right. Let's pass the STOP School Violence Act. It is only part of the solution. There are other issues we still need to address. But if you believe in helping to make our schools safer, you should vote for this bipartisan bill. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are advised not to refer to occupants of the gallery, under the House rules. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee). Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, in the course of my coming over to the floor, we heard a comment, which I intend to check, of an accidental discharge of a firearm by a resource officer in a school in Virginia. The gun went off. I just want to conclude by saying that we have brought people together in that nothing in this bill will allow for Federal funds to be used in these grants for the arming of teachers. I think the AFT has evidenced their support for that. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I have one speaker remaining, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, today, young people across the country are taking a stand and calling upon this Congress to do something about the scourge of gun violence that has terrorized our schools and streets for too long. This bill fails to do so, and it should not and cannot be our only response to these demands. We must make schools safer. But the best way to do that is to do more to prevent gun violence from occurring in the first place. Congress must do more to stop gun violence. Congress should pass an assault weapons ban. Congress should pass an effective background check. Congress should ban high-capacity magazines. Congress should do a lot more. It is not enough to say that staff and students must do more to protect themselves. Mr. Speaker, it is time to take decisive action to stop gun violence in our communities. You are faced with a simple choice, Mr. Speaker: Will you stand with these young people who are demanding action or will you stand with the NRA and be complicit in the continuing violence in our schools and in our streets? Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks). Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership, and I thank the Members who have come before us today to speak about their experiences, like my colleague who suffered from a horrific act of gun violence last year. I also want to speak on behalf of the thousands of students who stood up all around the country. They have asked us to take action to address gun violence. Our children do deserve to be safe while they are at school, to feel safe and to be safe. I am the mother of a teacher, sister of a teacher, and daughter of a new teacher. We want our schools to be safe. We in this country have focused on violence in our communities for a very long time. When I was deputy mayor of Indianapolis in the late nineties, we were very focused on reducing gun violence and homicides of all kinds in the city of Indianapolis. {time} 1345 Later, as U.S. attorney in the southern district of Indiana, I led what was called Project Safe Neighborhoods, which I understand that Attorney General Sessions is reinvigorating to reduce the gun violence in all of our communities, which includes our schools. As our colleague from Florida just said, this is a very complex problem. This is something that we have been paying attention to for many years and, in fact, decades. It is going to take complex solutions, but this bill is a very important part of the solution. In fact, last year, my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee worked to enact 21st Century Cures Act, which included a number of mental health provisions. One of those reforms ensured that State and local governments can use grant funding from the Department of Justice to develop and operate school-based mental health crisis intervention teams. Today we will reauthorize that Department of Justice program for another 10 years with this bill. I read this morning in The Indianapolis Star, the new movement about walk up, not just walk out. It is important for students and everybody to walk up to those people who they have concerns about in their schools or those people who are lonely, and those people who need help or who just need a friend. The STOP School Violence Act authorizes $75 million in annual funding to support increased security and training and increase the use of anonymous reporting systems. In one school in my district, over 100 tips were sent into that school system with the anonymous reporting on the night of the Parkland shooting, and teachers worked around the clock on shifts all night to run down all of those tips. That is what is critically important, that people continue to report and that law enforcement working with school officials continue to investigate. These tips come from outside the school. They come from inside the school. This is critically important. They come from social media. They come from conversations. It is important to share. This bill increases the amount of funding that can go to schools for anonymous reporting systems. That is just one of the things it does. This bill will add more resources. It is not enough. I am not saying that it is enough. It is one of the many steps. In fact, in this appropriations bill, I want to encourage my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to continue to increase funding for school safety and mental health programs in the omnibus bill and in budgets going forward. We know this bill is one important step. I want to applaud one of my colleagues, Sheriff Rutherford, a Member from Florida. He and another Member from Florida introduced this bill 1 week before the shooting. They, along with many colleagues, have focused on school security for many years. We do have to do more. This is an important step. It is a critical step. And when men like Sheriff Rutherford have devoted his life to protecting and serving his community and his schools in his community, we need to listen to him. This is a very important step. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.'' We will not stop. We have heard the young people. We have heard their families. We are going to continue to listen. We will continue to fight for safety in schools in our communities. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4909, as amended. The question was taken. The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it. Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. ____________________