House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy urged Wednesday for House Dems to bring a bipartisan law that has already went through the Senate to their floor for a final vote. The bill would put people who killed police officers in prison and stop the loophole which has allowed some killers to go free.
The law is called the Victor Avila and Jaime Zapata Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act and honors those like ICE Special Agent Jamie Zapata, an officer who was murdered by Los Zetas drug cartel members in Mexico in 2011. Those cartel members got lucky and their convictions were overturned based on legal technicalities. The bill would stop the loophole so that police officers and their families can get justice they deserve.
In a comment to conservative reporters, McCarthy slammed Dems for not allowing the bill to get to the floor for a final vote. Back in July, both the Avila and Zapata families wrote a message to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer along with McCarthy asking them to pass the law in the Dem-controlled House.
“The National Police Officers’ Memorial Service was held days ago at the Capitol to honor heroes like ICE Special Agent Jamie Zapata, who was murdered by Los Zetas drug cartel members in Mexico in 2011. Jamie’s murderers were convicted in DC, but had their convictions overturned due to a legal technicality,” McCarthy said.
“This week, House Dems had the opportunity to accept a bipartisan bill, which succeeded in the Senate unanimously back in May, that would have fixed this technicality and strongly supported our heroic and brave police officers, but they chose to not do this. Congress should pass this bill to end this loophole so no more police officers — or police families — are denied the justice that they deserve. There’s no reason to delay this — House Dems need to bring this bill to their floor immediately,” McCarthy said.
Conservative reporters contacted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her office along with Hoyer’s office about when this legislation could be brought to the House floor for a final vote, to which they did not promptly respond.
Author: Steven Sinclaire