Rep. Deborah Ross’ Opening Statement at Subcommittee Field Hearing on the Need for Real Solutions to Combat Violent Crime
Washington, D.C. (September 29, 2025)—Today, Rep. Deborah Ross delivered opening remarks at the Subcommittee on Oversight field hearing in Charlotte, North Carolina, on combatting violent crime, while the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress are undermining public safety and abandoning victims and survivors of violent crime—making us all less safe.
Below are Rep. Ross’ remarks at today’s hearing.
WATCH Rep. Ross’ opening statement.
Rep. Deborah Ross
Subcommittee on Oversight
Hearing on “Victims of Violent Crime”
September 29, 2025
Thank you very much, Rep. Van Drew. And thank you to everyone for coming today to discuss these important issues.
I especially want to thank the witnesses who have come to be with us today. Thank you to our law enforcement officers, for you are the selfless men and women in uniform, and you keep us safe every day. I especially want to thank Officer Campbell for being here and for what he’s done for this great city.
I also want to express my gratitude to those of our witnesses who have lost loved ones to crime, or who were victims themselves. Your courage in telling your stories and having your voices heard is so important. And my heart goes out to you.
Before I get started, I also want to express my deepest condolences to the family of Iryna Zarutska. What happened to her is simply unimaginable and unconscionable, and I hope that we will take to heart her family’s request not to remember her by her last moments or politicize her death, but instead to remember her as the vibrant and exceptionally kind person she was.
Finally, we’re here in North Carolina, and we had a tragedy yesterday. I want to express my prayers and my absolute heartbreak to the victims of the Southport mass shooting yesterday. I know our Governor is there today, and I know our hearts go out to the victims and their families.
The Majority has brought us here together. And I would say, I went to the Philadelphia hearing, I’ve been on the Judiciary Committee since I was ever in Congress, but to be honest, and for our victims, this hearing is too little, too late. We should have been doing more to prevent crime and address the lack of mental health care long before this hearing.
To my Republican friends, this is not Democrats’ fault. This is the fault of Congress and our legislature to not do enough. They want you to believe that tough on crime and saying “law and order” is going to solve the problem. And they want to believe that a slogan will “make America safe again.” But if that is the case, why is the Congress cutting aid to local law enforcement by $100 million next year? Why are they proposing cuts to the Crime Victims Fund? Why do they want to slash Juvenile Justice grants and hate crime grants? Why are they working to cut federal support for survivors of domestic violence, who I hear from every single day, by almost $100 million? In short, why, if they care so much about law enforcement in North Carolina, are they trying to defund the police and the FBI behind closed doors in Washington, D.C.?
The reality is that these cuts undermine public safety, and they don’t give law enforcement the tools they need to keep us safe. This isn’t about an abstract budget line item. The programs on the chopping block equip and train local police, provide support to crime victims, and combat domestic violence. And I’ve gotten many of these grants for my constituents and law enforcement in Wake County.
Shuttering and merging vital offices within the Department of Justice is not about fiscal responsibility. It’s about letting our people down. It’s about crippling the very institutions designed to combat the most severe crimes and the most dangerous criminals. A weakened FBI has fewer resources to track and apprehend criminals. A defunded ATF won’t be able to track the flow of illegal guns used to commit violent crimes. So, when you hear these familiar slogans like “make America safe again,” I urge you to look not at what my colleagues on the other side say, but what they actually do. Cutting police resources and defunding federal agencies are not the policies of a party committed to public safety. And the consequence in this country is that we are less prepared and we are less safe.
We deserve better. Our police officers and prosecutors deserve better. Our communities deserve better. And most of all, victims of crime and their families deserve better. If we want to honor them, we should seek real solutions to prevent these tragedies and not hide behind empty slogans.
And since we are in Charlotte and we are in North Carolina, and you have a Representative from Charlotte and from North Carolina, I have a unanimous consent request. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article written by Simone Jasper entitled “Two North Carolina Cities Rank Among the Safest in the Country. Here’s Why.” It notes that Charlotte is the ninth safest city in the country, and Raleigh is the 10th safest city in the country.
And while I’m honored to have the Judiciary Committee here, I think that North Carolina, while we can always do better, has done better than many of the cities that we have failed to visit.
Thank you, and I yield back.