Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the violent crime wave:
“When you combine the border crisis and the violent crime crisis, law and order ranks as the American people’s number-two top priority, second only to the inflation crisis.
“While Democrats’ economic policies have waged war on working families’ financial security, their soft-on-crime policies have eroded Americans’ physical security.
“Cities, towns, and neighborhoods across the country are reeling from a wave of violent crime. Just last weekend, my home state of Kentucky experienced a spate of murders and attempted murders that rattled residents and overwhelmed police.
“Lexington saw four separate shooting incidents on Saturday night alone, leaving nine hurt, some with life-threatening injuries.
“A Lexington Police Department veteran described it as ‘a pretty much unprecedented night in my 20 years.’
“Officers were so tied up that they were unable to respond to other crimes and disorder.
“Louisville also saw a flurry of violence: the second-highest number of homicides in one weekend this year. Six people murdered in just three days.
“Both cities documented record homicide numbers last year and Lexington is on track to do so again. For Louisville, this is the third consecutive year of triple-digit killings.
“Of course, this crisis isn’t just hitting Kentucky. These trends are nationwide.
“For years, the far left has impugned the motives and honor of police officers and taken aim at their funding.
“For years, top liberal donors have poured money into the campaigns of radical district attorneys in big cities whose whole stated agenda is to not prosecute crimes.
“For years, Democratic elites have pushed for letting violent criminals out of prison. Democrats just nominated and confirmed a Supreme Court Justice who argued as a D.C. District Judge that “COVID justified letting every single prisoner in Washington D.C. custody out of jail and back onto the streets.
“This has been an intentional, strategic campaign from the far left.
“And now Americans are being robbed, carjacked, assaulted, and murdered. Their families are being poisoned with illegal drugs.
“Just a few weeks ago, Senator Rubio gave the Senate a vote to increase funding for fighting crime and keeping dangerous criminals locked up.
“Every Senate Republican obviously supported this. But every Democrat joined on party lines to block it.
“Later today, our colleagues from Tennessee will hold a press conference to discuss the horrifying case of Eliza Fletcher, a 34-year-old mom and teacher in Memphis whom a career criminal forced into an S.U.V. and murdered while she was out for her morning run.
“The suspect had multiple violent crimes on his rap sheet dating back to age 14 and had just been let out of prison early for a prior kidnapping.
“There are far too many tragic stories like Eliza Fletcher’s being written every day and every week across this country.
“Entire neighborhoods have become unwalkable. In many places public transit has become nearly unusable.
“A few months ago the Washington Post profiled one day in the life of a female immigrant bus driver in Denver who gets screamed at and threatened by lunatics on a daily basis.
“Just yesterday a 49-year-old was stabbed in the back while riding the subway in New York City after he asked another passenger to quiet down.
“Our Democratic friends like to talk about fairness and compassion.
“There is nothing fair or compassionate about letting cities descend into violence and chaos. There is nothing fair or compassionate about legislating like career criminals deserve fifth and sixth chances more than young mothers deserve the right to go out for a morning jog and come home alive.
“Stable prices, reliable energy, secure borders, and basic public safety are four of the most basic duties that any government in a civilized country owes its citizens.
“These things are the absolute minimum that American families ought to be able to count on. The bare minimum.
“And the Democrats’ one-party government cannot deliver it.”