• I secured $250,000 in funding as part of the Transportation, Treasury, Housing, Urban Development, The Judiciary, District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006, H.R. 3058 to support the reconstruction of the Dawson family home in East Baltimore as a safe haven for children who are at-risk of becoming involved in drug or gang activities.
   
• I authored the Witness Security and Protection Act of 2005, H.R. 908, which would establish a short-term witness protection program in the U.S. Marshal Service for witnesses who are involved in trials considering homicide and other serious crimes in high crime communities.  This Act would authorize the Attorney General to award grants to state and local district attorneys offices to cover the costs of providing the short-term witness protection services.  (This legislation is awaiting consideration by the Committee on the Judiciary.)
   
• I authored the Dawson Family Community Protection Act (H.R. 812), which would help to secure the safety of persons living in areas that are experiencing drug-related crime by directing federal funding to combat trafficking, establishing measures to protect witnesses to drug crimes, and establishing a toll-free telephone hotline to which crimes can be reported.  (This legislation passed the House of Representatives during the 108^th Congress but did not pass the Senate before the end of that session.  I reintroduced this legislation during the 109^th Congress and it is now awaiting consideration by the House Committee on Government Reform and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.)
   
• I am a co-sponsor of the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2005, H.R. 1312, which would reinstate for 10 years the ban previously in place on assault weapons, including weapons equipped with large capacity ammunition feeding devices.  (This bill awaits consideration by the Committee on the Judiciary.)

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