On May 18, during a markup in honor of National Police Week, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved by voice vote four of NAPO’s priority bills: the Recruit and Retain Act, the Project Safe Neighborhoods Reauthorization Act, the COPS on the Beat Grant Program Parity Act, and the Strong Communities Act.  NAPO has been working over the past several months with Committee leadership and staff to move these bills during National Police Week and we are grateful for the Committee’s support; The Senate passed a joint resolution (H.J.Res. 42) on May 16 by a bipartisan vote of 56-43 that would overturn a District of Columbia (D.C.) police reform law, the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act (CPJRAA). H.J.Res. 42 passed the House on April 19 by a vote of 229-189 and is on its way to the President’s desk, but President Biden has promised to veto it, stating that he would “not support congressional Republicans’ efforts to overturn commonsense police reforms”; On May 17, the House passed the NAPO-backed Protect Our Law enforcement with Immigration Control and Enforcement (POLICE) Act (H.R. 2494), sponsored by Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), by a bipartisan vote of 255-175. This bill would make the assault of a law enforcement officer a deportable offense; As part of our National Police Week efforts, NAPO joined our national partner, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), in support of the Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act (H.R. 3091). This bill would establish a commonsense program that allows federal law enforcement officers to purchase retired service weapons, which otherwise would be unnecessarily destroyed at a great cost to the federal taxpayer. The House passed this bill by a vote of 232-198 on May 17; Representatives Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), John Rutherford (R-FL), Steven Horsford (D-NV), and Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) reintroduced one of NAPO’s priority bills, the Invest to Protect Act (H.R. 3184), which creates a broad grant program through the Department of Justice (DOJ) specifically for small state, local or tribal law enforcement agencies that will give them resources to help them train their officers, implement or expand body-worn camera programs, provide mental health resources for their officers, and retain and hire officers; NAPO pledged our support for the Enhancing COPS Hiring Grants for Local Law Enforcement Act. This bipartisan bill would allow for COPS Hiring Program grant funds to be used for recruitment and retention bonuses. It would also modify the grant program to allow grant applications to be good for five years so that agencies do not have to reapply every fiscal year; NAPO is once again proud to support the Homes for Every Local Protector, Educator, and Responder (HELPER) Act (H.R. 3170 / S.1514). The HELPER Act establishes a first-time homebuyer program through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to provide mortgage assistance to law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other first responders. Specifically, qualified individuals would be eligible for a mortgage on a primary family residence with no down payment and no monthly mortgage insurance premium; Representatives Pete Stauber, (R-MN) and Dan Kildee reintroduced the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act on May 18. This important legislation would guarantee that law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical service workers in all 50 states have the right to discuss workplace issues with their employers; Senators J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Law Enforcement Officers’ Parity Act, which would expand the definition of “law enforcement officer” for retirement purposes to ensure all federal law enforcement officers are treated equally regarding retirement benefits. Currently, certain federal law enforcement officers who hold the same classifications and risks as others are not granted the same retirement benefits.