| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Way beyond control with the pandemic. | ||
| And now it's an opportunity for us to get our arms around this. | ||
| It's required cooperation beyond anything I think we could even articulate today. | ||
| Senator Blackburn said, over 30 agencies are involved cooperating. | ||
| But I think most important, I want to thank our local leadership here in Memphis for working arm in arm with us. | ||
| Our mayor's office, our police chief, our sheriff have all been the best partners they could possibly be in helping us bring a crime situation that was leaving Memphis at the top of the league tables back in 2023, the number one city for major crimes, homicide in America on a per capita basis. | ||
| We are changing that and we're changing the stars of the people in the city. | ||
| We are going to make Memphis the safest city in America. | ||
| We're going to be a role model for the rest of the cities in the United States. | ||
| And I hope that many city leaders across the country will take a look at what's happened today. | ||
| And I think they'll see that this is the key, this is the formula to make their city safe as well. | ||
| This is going to have repercussions well beyond the borders of the state of Tennessee. | ||
| And I'm so proud that we're making it happen here in Tennessee. | ||
| One great challenge remains ahead of us, and that is to sustain this success. | ||
| And to do that, Governor Lee and I have talked about this extensively. | ||
| Local leadership will play a big role. | ||
| Speaker Sexton, you're going to have a big job in this, but as a member of the Appropriations Committee at the federal level, we're going to be doing everything that we can to make certain that we have the proper resources going forward so that we're able to maintain the safety of Memphis to bring back the greatness of this wonderful city. | ||
| We're seeing it happen right before our eyes and we're going to sustain it. | ||
| So thank you all very much. | ||
| And again, General Bondi, thank you for being here. | ||
| And I want to thank overall President Trump for his leadership allowing all of this to happen. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much. | |
| Thank you, Senators. | ||
| And since we, the day this was announced and before, Governor Bill Lee, thank you. | ||
| You have been an incredible partner working with us. | ||
| And I hope some other governors around the country are watching right now. | ||
| You know who you are. | ||
| Call your fellow governor Bill Lee and he'll tell you what's happening in Memphis when you work together, when you work with Mayor Paul Young, when you work with a great police chief and a great sheriff, we can make a tremendous difference. | ||
| It is my honor to introduce your governor of Tennessee, Bill Young. | ||
| Bill Lee. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Joe Bondi. | ||
| I'm very grateful to you. | ||
| Everyone has been called out for gratitude. | ||
| I just want to say, as the governor of this state, as a seventh generation Tennessean, as someone who's lived here my entire life, who has loved the great city of Memphis, whose grandparents lived six blocks from the river, | ||
| and as one who knows how remarkable Memphis has been and still is today, but understands the weight of the burden that crime has placed on this great city for far too long. | ||
| This is Thanksgiving Week, and this is a governor who has a deep debt of gratitude to everyone who has come together to make this happen. | ||
| We're in a historic moment for Memphis, Tennessee. | ||
| For those who haven't known how remarkable this great American city is, they now are beginning to understand it. | ||
| And when we are a not only remarkable city, but a safe city, as has already begun to happen in this state just in a couple of months, the world will see what can happen when partnership comes together. | ||
| Sheriff Bonner, Chief Davis, Mayor Young, local leadership that partners with state resources, our Tennessee Highway Patrol, that I'm so proud of the work they've done here, our Tennessee National Guard, our Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, for these local and state resources to be backed up by the DEA, the FBI, the U.S. Marshal Service, the ATF, | ||
| General Bondi, and her team. | ||
| When I met with President Trump and sat down and talked about this plan, and he said to me that he wanted to return great American cities to a place where they were safe for their residents once again, he indicated to me that the full resources of the federal government would be laid upon this city to partner with the state and the locals. | ||
| I wondered if all that could happen. | ||
| He had a vision for that. | ||
| He insisted that it could, in fact, take place, and we're seeing that unfold before our eyes with murder rates cut in half and crime rates in Memphis at their lowest level in 20 years. | ||
| This is an example of what can happen when people set aside all their differences and focus on the people of Memphis, Tennessee, the mothers who live in those communities, the businesses that have their capital at risk every day, and the people who live in Shelby County who know just how remarkable this place is and how important it is that we succeed at this task and it's happening. | ||
| There is a scripture where Paul says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. |