Washington, D.C. – At a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee hearing, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) highlighted her work to ensure law enforcement has the tools they need to crack down on drug trafficking across the country. She underscored bipartisan legislation she is leading to deliver more funding to local law enforcement agencies nationwide and combat the illicit use of xylazine, while calling on Congress to do more to stop the flow of fentanyl across the Southern border and hold bad actors accountable.
Cortez Masto discussed the importance of supporting law enforcement in Nevada’s rural and tribal communities, who often face challenges with recruitment and retention of police officers. “I have legislation called the Invest to Protect Act to give our smaller law enforcement communities the tools they need for training, for hiring,” she said. Expert witnesses reiterated the necessity of providing rural police departments with more resources and funding.
Cortez Masto continued by stressing the need for her Combating Illicit Xylazine Act saying, “We now know this xylazine is being cut into this fentanyl, which is just as devastating…We need to give law enforcement the tools they need.” She also discussed her recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border and highlighted her support for the proposed $14 billion in border security funding to help stop the illegal flow of fentanyl into the U.S.
As the former top law enforcement official in Nevada, Senator Cortez Masto has been a leading advocate in the Senate for our police officers and is part of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus. She just secured historic funding for the Byrne JAG grant program, the leading source of criminal justice funding in the country. Her bipartisan bills to combat the crisis of law enforcement suicide and provide mental health resources to police officers have been signed into law by presidents of both parties. She has reintroduced the BADGES for Native Communities Act to support the Bureau of Indian Affairs with law enforcement recruitment and retention.
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