{"id":1643345,"date":"2022-09-16T16:05:38","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T20:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1643345"},"modified":"2022-09-16T16:07:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T20:07:15","slug":"senate-democrats-block-bills-to-bolster-school-security-mental-health-resources-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-democrats-block-bills-to-bolster-school-security-mental-health-resources-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Democrats Block Bills To Bolster School Security, Mental Health Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsenate-democrats-block-bills-to-bolster-school-security-mental-health-resources-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1643345&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Sen. Chris Murphy slammed GOP legislation as &#8220;theater&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\"><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tSen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) \/ Getty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/josh-christenson\/\" title=\"Posts by Josh Christenson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Josh Christenson<\/a> \u2022 September 16, 2022 4:00 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked two bills from Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) that would have used COVID-19 stimulus funds to bolster school security and mental health resources for students.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruz.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/secure_our_schools.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Securing Our Schools Act<\/a>, which was cosponsored by Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), would double the number of police officers in public, charter, and private schools, strengthen physical security measures like alarms and locks, and put thousands of mental health professionals in public schools. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruz.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/protect_our_childrens_schools_act.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Protect Our Children\u2019s Schools Act<\/a> \u200b\u200bwould fund that effort, appropriating billions of dollars in unspent education-related COVID funding. Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/TbaNFcMEJUE?t=1051\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">objected<\/a> on the Senate floor to both, killing the legislation after Cruz sought unanimous consent.<\/p>\n<p>Murphy called Cruz\u2019s legislative push &#8220;theater.&#8221; Cruz responded he was &#8220;genuinely flabbergasted&#8221; Murphy would object to the bill without debating its merits.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If another lunatic attacks a school, and there\u2019s not a police officer at the front door to stop it, remember right now,&#8221; Cruz said. &#8220;Remember this moment when the Democrats said, \u2018No, we will not protect our kids.\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The bills are the latest school safety measures Senate Democrats have blocked since the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, in May. Days after the shooting, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/schumer-blocks-senate-vote-on-school-safety-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">axed<\/a> a bill that would have tasked Homeland Security with collecting school safety data and providing recommendations to law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>The Cruz bills would have allotted $25 billion to place security officers and mental health workers in schools and tripled FEMA\u2019s grant program for school security. Cruz\u2019s bills would have barred schools that teach critical race theory or advocate for abortion from accessing the funds.<\/p>\n<p>Murphy said he was in legislative talks with a more &#8220;serious legislator,&#8221; Sen. James Lankford (R., Okla.), about a similar school security bill. An aide in Lankford\u2019s office told the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> that Murphy was mistaken and the two senators are collaborating on a different education bill. Lankford <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankford.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/lankford-prioritizes-school-safety-in-unspent-covid-funds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cosponsored<\/a> Cruz\u2019s school security bill when it was introduced in July.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Schools should have the flexibility to access unspent COVID funds to strengthen school safety,&#8221; Lankford said in a press release at the time. There is $135 billion in leftover education-related COVID relief.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/dfw\/news\/cruz-to-introduce-bill-adding-safety-improvements-mental-health-professionals-at-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> CBS News on Tuesday he hoped the funds for mental health professionals would find early &#8220;warning signs&#8221; among troubled teenagers. &#8220;Some of these crimes could be stopped before they&#8217;re carried out,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Murphy partnered with Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) on another school safety bill in June, which President Joe Biden signed into law the same month. That law increased screening measures for some gun buyers. The overall school funding was a fraction of the Cruz bill, <a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/2022\/06\/23\/gun-bill-expands-school-safety-spending-beyond-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">allotting<\/a> $2 billion for mental health resources and $300 million for school security.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Cruz called the law a &#8220;big gun control package&#8221; that &#8220;will do nothing\u2014zero\u2014to stop mass murders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no money on the left for actually stopping these crimes,&#8221; Cruz <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SteveGuest\/status\/1570125961273741313\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. &#8220;The money is for disarming law-abiding citizens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A spokeswoman for Murphy did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats Sen. Chris Murphy slammed GOP legislation as &#8220;theater&#8221;  Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) \/ Getty Images  Josh Christenson \u2022 September 16, 2022 4:00 pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1643345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1643345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1643345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1643345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1643345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}