Senate

Senate reauthorizes bulletproof vest program

by Jordain Carney - 05/06/15 7:43 PM ET

The Senate reauthorized a program Wednesday aimed at helping law enforcement agencies get bulletproof vests.

Senators passed the Bulletproof Vest Grant Program Reauthorization by a voice vote, after Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) withdrew an objection to moving forward on the legislation.

Lankford said there are two federal programs that deal with bulletproof vests and that Congress should try to streamline them.

“We have two programs dealing with bulletproof vests, two different systems of actually distributing bulletproof vests from the federal government,” he said. “Two sets of applications, two different sets of personnel to approve those applications.”

{mosads}He added, “every dollar we spent on the bureaucracy here on duplicative programs is a dollar less that we will spend to buy a bulletproof vest and be able to get it out the door.”

But the Oklahoma Republican withdrew his objection, saying he’s received assurances that senators will use the appropriations process to try to merge the two programs.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said the program has given almost 1.2 million bulletproof vests to police officers, and that the reauthorization would allow for more than 200,000 more.

“It’s not just empty words, nor an empty gesture,” he said. “It’s probably the most tangible support Congress can provide to law enforcement officers. … It will save lives.”

The Vermont Democrat added he hopes the House will quickly pass the legislation in time for National Police Week, which is later this month.

Wednesday’s reauthorization follows comments from Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who suggested the country needs to “have a conversation about what a great job police are doing.”

“The overwhelming majority of police are honest men and women. They have very high ethical standards, they don’t have a racist bone in their body,” he said Tuesday. “We need to have a conversation about bad police practices, but we also need to have a conversation about what a great job police are doing.”

Toomey, who is up for reelection next year, said he wasn’t “defending” the officers involved in case of Freddie Gray, a black man who died as a result of a spinal injury he suffered in police custody.

“I’m not defending the officers in the Gray case. I don’t know whether they are guilty or innocent,” he said. “My point is that while there are some police officers who act terribly and that must be stopped, there is no epidemic of police criminality.”

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