WASHINGTON—United States Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the Restoring Law and Order Act, legislation to increase resources for law enforcement and help reduce violent crime. This legislation was first introduced in 2022.

Last week, the Shelby County Crime Commission in Memphis reported that the murder rate increased by 50 percent in 2023 compared with 2022. Crime rates across the board were also up last year.

“The American people have had enough of the violent crime wave sweeping our nation,” said Senator Hagerty. “Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress have focused their efforts on snooping on hard-working Americans through the IRS instead of addressing violent crime. Our legislation would repurpose the wasteful, intrusive spending on thousands of new IRS agents and instead use it to address the rise in homicides, carjackings, robberies, and other violent crime unfolding in communities across the U.S. I’m pleased to join Senator Blackburn in reintroducing this legislation during National Police Week to help address this urgent need.”

“Far too often, we’re seeing violent crimes committed by repeat offenders who end up back on the streets because of soft-on-crime bail policies,” said Senator Blackburn. “At the same time, law enforcement departments across the country are understaffed and ill-equipped to better target violent crime. Unfortunately, the far-Left has made it one of their recent crusades to destroy the credibility of our brave law enforcement while pushing campaigns to defund the police and eliminate cash bail. This National Police Week, I stand proudly with our men and women in blue and believe that we must fund – not defund – our police. This legislation will provide much-needed resources for our law enforcement officers to hunt down violent criminals, restore law and order, and keep Tennesseans safe.”

The Restoring Law and Order Act:

• Authorizes a grant program to provide state and local government funds to:
  • Hire and retain more law enforcement officers;
  • Combat interstate child trafficking;
  • Prioritize tougher sentences for repeat offenders;
  • Use public safety tools like bail and pretrial detention to prevent dangerous offenders from returning to communities;
  • Acquire resources to more effectively target drug and fentanyl crimes;
  • Detain and deport illegal aliens who have committed criminal offenses in the United States;
  • Eliminate investigatory backlogs and more quickly process criminal evidence; and
  • Target, combat, and prosecute carjackings;
• Directs GAO to conduct a study on the deficiencies of rape kit test processing and the availability of tests;
• Rescinds unobligated balances from the Inflation Reduction Act to be appropriated to the Attorney General to provide these grant funds to states and localities; and
• Redirects any funds used by the Attorney General for carrying out DEI initiatives to go towards funding our law enforcement.

Full text of the Restoring Law and Order Act can be found here.