On Election Day, during a “pro forma” session in the House of Representative, while no one else was present, and while the nation was focused on the elections, Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD), who was temporarily “presiding” over the session, recognized former Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-VA) (the only other member present) for a unanimous consent request to lay H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, on the table, essentially defeating the bill for the time being. These two members of congress, acting alone and against long-standing House policies, attempted to thwart our efforts to restore the retirement security of millions of public servants. The bill is cosponsored by 330 of their fellow lawmakers. House leadership have a strong incentive to fix this or other lawmakers will go rogue during pro forma sessions for their own political interests. Please continue to reach out to your Representative(s) to urge support of H.R. 82.
President Donald Trump won a second term as U.S. President on Nov. 5. NAPO was the first national law enforcement organization to endorse President Trump. We look forward to working with him and his administration to continue that support for America’s law enforcement officers and ensure that our officers have the backing, resources, and tools necessary to effectively serve and protect our communities.
Republicans also won control of the U.S. Senate, which will be invaluable to President Trump as his Cabinet appointees and judicial nominees will have a clear path to confirmation, allowing his administration to more easily shape policies that do not require Congressional action. The U.S. House of Representatives, at the time of writing this report, still had too many undecided races to officially call it. As of today, Republicans have won 210 House seats and Democrats have won 198, with the remaining races undecided. A party needs 218 seats to win a majority, and it could take another week before we know which party has control of the House.
NAPO President Mick McHale sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense, the President, the President-elect, the chief prosecutor, and the trial judge of the Military Commission Trial of admitted 9/11 terrorists Nov. 7, 2024, in response to the judge’s decision to validate the terrorists’ plea deals. In August, it was discovered federal authorities had secretly worked out plea deals with these terrorists, without any meaningful input from victims and their families. NAPO objected then, and the Secretary of Defense withdrew the offer, and fired the Pentagon official who had extended the offer. Yesterday, the trial judge ruled the withdrawal of the offer by the Secretary of Defense was too late. The judge issued an order saying the official who made the offer had the authority to do so at the time and the Secretary of Defense’s reversal and firing of the official was too late to revoke the offer. The offer had already been accepted by three defendants.
The House and Senate have been negotiating the final Fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) during the recess, working out differences between the House-passed NDAA and the Senate Armed Services Committee draft NDAA. In the Senate, NAPO secured the inclusion of the Law Enforcement and Victim Support Act. This amendment includes nine bills that passed unanimously out of the Senate, including several NAPO priority bills: Fighting PTSD Act, American Law Enforcement SAVER Act, Project Safe Neighborhoods Reauthorization Act, Strong Communities Act, and Project Safe Childhood Act. These bills would help protect the mental health and physical wellbeing of law enforcement officers, provide resources to address the recruitment crisis, and give departments tools to fight violent crime and protect children from exploitation. In the House version of the NDAA, the Lifesaving Gear for Police Act was included. This would restore state and local law enforcement’s unfettered access to surplus military equipment through the Department of Defense’s 1033 Program and Departments of Justice and Homeland Security grant programs.
Please take the time to nominate examples of outstanding police work for TOP COPS Awards. The nomination form is attached and can be found on our website, and it must be postmarked or faxed to (703) 684-0515 by Jan. 10, 2025.
Please join NAPO’s 36th Annual Police, Fire, EMS, & Municipal Employee Pension & Benefits Seminar, February 2 – 4, 2025 at the Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For more details about these issues, click here for the Nov. 8, 2024 Washington Report.
