Pat Toomey: Police Lives Matter
By Chris Stigall
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Senator Pat Toomey is co-sponsoring a bill designed to strengthen federal laws against criminals who target law enforcement officers.
Toomey told Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that he is angered by the politicization he's seen surrounding police shootings around the country in the past year:
"It's just absolutely sickening and infuriating the way political opportunists have been maligning police officers, spreading this nonsense, this garbage, and maligning the character of the men and women who put on the uniform and risk their lives for us. 146 officers have been shot or killed just since January first of this year, including Pennsylvania police officers and when politicians get up and suggest that they're the problem, that they should stand down, that police are somehow responsible for the wave of crime, it's outrageous to the police and it's also outrageous to the communities that the police are protecting."
He stated his new legislation will do more to protect to the safety of police officers throughout the nation:
"Police lives matter and someone needs to stand up and defend the men and women in blue who have the integrity and the courage to protect us every day, who are not racist. The legislation that I've introduced with [Alabama Senator] Jeff Sessions is all about exactly that, police lives matter. It says if you intentionally target or kill a police officer or any law enforcement or a first responder, then when consideration of the death penalty comes up, that will be considered an aggravating factor."
Toomey also took the time to criticize the Obama administration's handling of Russian aggression in Syria, saying that the White House failing to act will result in negative outcomes for our international partners and our own foreign policy:
"The allies that have been very cooperative with us for 60 years, at this point, they're looking for how do they reach an accommodation with the local bully on their block and that's what is going to be happening all around the world. It's already been happening. It's really terrible for American security interests."