Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty
Biden, 78, welcomed the widow and two young sons of police officer Thomas Bomba to the White House while he signed legislation intended to protect law enforcement.
Angela Bomba and her boys, Tommy and Jake, were in attendance during the ceremony as Biden signed into law three bills: the Protecting America’s First Responders Act of 2021, the Confidentiality Opportunities for Peer Support (COPS) Counseling Act and the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act.
Before he sat down to sign the bills, Biden told the crowd of about 40 attendees, “By the way, there’s a tradition when you sign the bill, you give the signing pen to the authors of the bill. But I don’t have that many pens with me.”
“I’m going to make sure everyone will get a pen,” Biden added. As he settled in to sign the papers in front of him, he took a moment to speak to Jake, standing next to him onstage.
Joe Biden.Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty
After learning Jake’s age (7) and grade (first), Biden thanked the boy for being at the bill signing and checked in to make sure he was okay. He later gifted Jake the pen he used to sign the legislation.
In May 2020, Reps. David Trone and Guy Reschenthaler proposed the COPS Counseling Act in response to Thomas' death, according toMontgomery Community Media.
“By providing confidentiality for peer support services like we do in the COPS Counseling Act, we can begin to remove the stigma that exists surrounding mental health,” Trone said in a statement at the time.
The COPS Counseling Act “prohibits Federal law enforcement officers from disclosing the contents of peer support communications; and requires the Department of Justice to develop a report on best practices and professional standards for peer support counseling programs for first responder agencies,” the White House says.
source: people.com
