PRESS RELEASE

In case you missed it — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) joined Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans for a press conference to talk about the rise in violent crime and Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) bill to address the issue.

Senator Cotton’s remarks may be found here. Text of his remarks is below.

Senator Cotton: America is in a crisis. This crime wave is killing more Americans than at any time in our history. Last year alone, more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses that's almost twice the number we lost in the entire Vietnam War. And it happens year after year after year.

We're also approaching an unprecedented number of murders, reaching levels not seen since the 1990s. This year that grisly death toll is continuing to rise with at least five cities on pace to reach new records for murder.

And it's not just murder, we also see a stark rise in other crimes. This year alone, rape is up 11% in New York City. Assault is up 13% In Minneapolis. Robbery is up double digits in cities across America, including a 42% increase in Philadelphia. We are rapidly returning to a world of broken windows, chaos, and rampant crime that we worked so hard to leave behind 30 years ago.

The reason for this crime wave is simple. The Democratic Party cares more about criminals than it does about victims. Today's Democrats want to defund, disarm, and demonize our police. They elect extreme Soros prosecutors who refuse to enforce the law as it's written. And they've abolished bail in some places, including New York, where we just saw an assault on a sitting congressman with a deadly weapon, and the criminal was released hours later. If the Democrats release a criminal who attacks a sitting congressman, they'll do it to you and to your family as well.

We have to recognize that we do not have an over incarceration problem in this country. We have a problem with liberals refusing to allow the police to enforce the law and to imprison those who violate the law. It's time to once again get tough on crime.

I'm pleased to work with my fellow Republicans in the Senate to help lead this way, and I invite the Democrats to join us before more Americans are the victims of senseless crime.