华盛顿-被国会大厦框住,总统乔·拜登周六,我向倒下的执法人员致敬,并向那些在1月6日起义现场战斗的人致敬,我宣布“因为你们,民主得以幸存。”
拜登在第40届全国和平官员年度追悼会上发表讲话,缅怀2019年和2020年因公殉职的491名执法人员。站在暴力暴徒试图阻止他晋升总统的地方,拜登挑出了在袭击后受伤的150名官员和死亡的5名官员。
“九个月前,你们的兄弟姐妹挫败了一场违宪的、根本上非美国式的对我们国家价值观和选票的攻击。因为你们,民主得以幸存,”拜登说。“因为这些男人和女人,我们避免了一场灾难,但他们的英雄主义让你和你的家人付出了代价。”
数百名军官和他们的家人坐在国会大厦西线的椅子上。当总统将他们的损失和他自己的悲伤史,包括他的第一任妻子和两个孩子的死亡联系起来时,观众中的一些人轻轻擦了擦眼睛,将其比作“失去了你灵魂的一部分”。
拜登还强调了执法人员的沉重负担,并斥责了“解散警察”的政治运动,称聚集在他面前的人将获得“更多的资源,而不是更少的资源,这样你就可以做好你的工作。”
拜登说:“我们对你们的一切都抱有期望,任何人都无法满足全部期望。“今天当警察比以往任何时候都难。”
拜登夸大了他的工人阶级根源,指出他有许多童年的朋友后来成为警察,并说他以前在活动中多次发言。但是,尽管拜登在他的整个政治生涯中一直试图认同军警部门,但组织周六活动的国家警察兄弟会表示支持唐纳德·特朗普在2020年选举许多普通警察支持前总统。
乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)在明尼阿波利斯去世后,拜登试图通过一项警察改革法案来收紧做法的努力失败了,国会谈判代表在9月宣布,谈判已经结束,但没有达成协议。这对民主党总统来说是一个挫折,他在竞选中强调了警务改革的必要性,并宣布这是早期的优先事项。
此外,他在枪支暴力问题上的议程基本上停滞不前,他最初选择的管理烟酒枪支和爆炸物局的人选也在坚定的反对声中靠边站。最近,拜登表示希望他仍能签署一项全面的警察改革法案,使其成为法律,同时探索更多的行政行动,帮助追究违反法律的警察的责任。
在仪式上,拜登表达了对所有执勤人员的担忧,并提到了周六早些时候在休斯顿一家酒吧工作时遭到伏击的三名警员代表。一名副手被杀。
Biden: 'Democracy survived' Capitol riot because of police
WASHINGTON -- Framed by the Capitol, PresidentJoe Bidenpaid tribute Saturday to fallen law enforcement officers and honored those who fought off the Jan. 6 insurrection at that very site by declaring “because of you, democracy survived.”
Biden spoke at the 40th Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service to remember the 491 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2019 and 2020. Standing where the violent mob tried to block his own ascension to the presidency, Biden singled out the 150 officers who were injured and the five who died in the attack’s aftermath.
“Nine months ago, your brothers and sisters thwarted an unconstitutional and fundamentally un-American attack on our nation’s values and our votes. Because of you, democracy survived,” Biden said. “Because of these men and women, we avoided a catastrophe, but their heroism came at a cost to you and your families.”
Hundreds of officers and their families sat on chairs assembled on the Capitol’s west front. Some in the audience dabbed their eyes as the president drew connections with their loss and his own history of grief, including the deaths of his first wife and two children, comparing it to “losing part of your soul.”
Biden also underscored the heavy burden placed on law enforcement officers, and rebuked the “defund the police” political movement, saying that those gathered before him would get “more resources, not fewer, so you can do your job.”
“We expect everything of you and it’s beyond the capacity of anyone to meet the total expectations,” Biden said. “Being a cop today is one hell of a lot harder than it’s ever been.”
Biden played up his working-class roots, noting that he had many childhood friends who went on to become police officers, and said he had spoken at the event many times before. But while Biden has throughout his political career sought to identify with the uniformed services, the organization that ran Saturday’s event, the National Fraternal Order of Police, endorsedDonald Trumpin the 2020electionand many rank-and-file police officers supported the former president.
Biden’s efforts to pass a police overhaul bill to tighten practices after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis collapsed, with congressional negotiators announcing in September that talks had ended without an agreement. That was a setback for the Democratic president, who campaigned on the need for policing changes and had declared it an early priority.
Additionally, his agenda on gun violence has largely stalled and his initial pick to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives stepped aside in the face of staunch opposition. More recently, Biden has expressed hope that he can still sign a comprehensive police overhaul bill into law, while exploring more executive actions to help hold police officers accountable for breaking the law.
At the ceremony, Biden expressed concerns for all officers in the line of duty and mentioned the three constable deputies shot in an ambush early Saturday while working at a Houston bar. One deputy was killed.