{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-republicans-are-united-to-make-america-safer/", "Barrasso: Republicans Are United to Make America Safer", "2023-03-08", "2023", "2023-03", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) spoke on the Senate floor today about the soft-on-crime policies of Democrat led cities and how Republicans will vote to make Washington, D.C. a safer place for all Americans.\n\nExcerpts from Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cI come to the floor to talk about the soft-on-crime policies of Democrats in Washington, D.C.\n\n\u201cIn 2020, Democrats all across the country started their movement to defund the police. Almost immediately, we saw burning cities across the country, from the east coast all the way to Portland, Oregon.\n\n\u201cDemocrat leaders turned their backs on police officers, all across the country. As a result, police officers began to retire or resign, and they did so in record numbers. The results were as painful as they were predictable.\n\n\u201cViolent crime skyrocketed all across America. We saw the fastest murder rate increase in our history. Homicides rose to a 25-year high.\n\n\u201cThis is no surprise. If police officers are not able to do their jobs, then the streets of each town in America are not safe.\n\n\u201cWell, today on the floor Senate Republicans are going to act to stop this recklessness.\n\n\u201cThanks to the leadership of Senator Hagerty, who\u2019s leading our discussions and our efforts, Senate Republicans are going to vote to stop Washington, D.C.\u2019s radical new legislation.\n\n\u201cThis legislation lets criminals get out of free. Senate Republicans are going to vote to make our nation\u2019s capital a safer place to visit, a safer place to live, and a safer place to work.\n\n\u201cWyoming families ask me all the time if it\u2019s safe for them to visit Washington, D.C. or if it\u2019s safe for their kids to come to Washington, D.C. for something like history day, an opportunity to see the nation\u2019s capital.\n\n\u201cImagine that. Many American families actually afraid to visit or have their children visit our nation\u2019s capital. Liberal cities all across the country have become danger zones.\n\n\u201cFamilies in Wyoming watch the nightly news. They can\u2019t believe their eyes. They see smashed storefronts in New York and in Chicago. They see innocent people getting mugged on the streets. They see it in New York and they see it in Washington, D.C. The cities run by liberals are not safe.\n\n\u201cAcross the country, we have hit new records, madam president, for carjackers, for assaults. But instead of backing the blue, Democrats are turning cities into safe havens for criminals. That\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happened here in Washington, D.C.\n\n\u201cSo the city council here in Washington, D.C. recently voted to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for every crime except first-degree murder. There\u2019s a value in mandatory minimum sentences.\n\n\u201cIt tells judges the bare minimum punishment for criminal behavior. Mandatory minimum sentence stops liberal judges from going soft and softer on crime.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no wonder that Democrats have waged war on mandatory minimums for at least the last decade. The new D.C. law would also reduce maximum sentences for violent criminals, like carjackers.\n\n\u201cFor some gun charges, the maximum sentence would go from 15 years down to less than five. The new crime law in the District of Columbia would mean more violent criminals free to roam the streets of our nation\u2019s capital and prey on innocent people.\n\n\u201cEven the liberal \u2018Washington Post\u2019 has said that the bill that passed the D.C. City council is a bad idea.\n\n\u201cCarjacking is already a major problem in Washington. We\u2019re seeing it in liberal cities all across the nation.\n\n\u201cCarjacking in D.C. has tripled since 2019, and we just heard on the floor of the Senate today that a carjacking has recently taken place right down the street from the capitol building. That\u2019s today.\n\n\u201cUnder the new criminal code, the maximum sentence for armed carjacking would be cut almost in half. Why would the D.C. City council reward the criminals, the criminals who are creating this chaos in our nation\u2019s capital?\n\n\u201cThese criminals and the liberal D.C. City councilmembers are driving away tourists from my home state of Wyoming who want to see their nation\u2019s capital.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a part of education for so many young people. Democrats in the House got behind the D.C. soft-on-crime policies when over 170 Democrats in the House voted to protect the criminals, not the citizens. So Joe Biden is now trying to hide his soft on crime record.\n\n\u201cHe just announced that he will now support our Republican position. This resolution we will soon be voting on will be a victory for every American who wants to feel safe when they visit their nation\u2019s capital.\n\n\u201cBut Washington, D.C. is just one city. It shouldn\u2019t stop here. Democrats\u2019 soft-on-crime policies remain in effect in liberal-led cities all across America.\n\n\u201cDemocrat lawmakers, and especially Democrat mayors, need to take notice of this action by the United States Senate today.\n\n\u201cIt is time to start enforcing the law. It\u2019s time to get rid of prosecutors who are weak and prosecutors who are woke.\n\n\u201cThey are not helping our country. We need to stand with law enforcement. We need to ensure police officers have the resources that they need to protect our communities.\n\n\u201cThe American people overwhelmingly reject the soft-on-crime policies of Democrats in Washington. America is based on the rule of law. Lawlessness should have no place in this nation.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time to stop the crime. Time to stop the chaos. Chaos that we\u2019re seeing in cities all across our country.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T17:54:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-republicans-are-united-to-make-america-safer/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9197751060128212, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}