Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said it “breaks my heart” to see major cities lose order amid crime surges that are sweeping Democratic-run cities.

“I guess I should be philosophical and say, ‘You know, the people elected these folks, so elect the clown, expect the circus,’” Kennedy told Jesse Watters Primetime. “But it breaks my heart to see cities like Chicago and New York and other major cities deteriorating because the mayors and the prosecutors think that cops are a bigger problem than criminals.”

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As Republicans renew a targeted focus on tackling rising crime, Kennedy also drew attention to the impact that a parental presence can have on young people’s lives, suggesting that many lawless youths have “never felt the firm hand of a father or the loving hand of a mother.”

“I don’t know how the government can make parents support their children,” Kennedy said, adding that “it doesn’t matter where you are in life, doesn’t matter what someone has done to you or may have done to you, you are responsible for your actions.”

“If you take other people’s stuff or you hurt other people personally, there have to be consequences,” he said. “So when you have these woke race-baiting mayors and district attorneys who say, ‘Well, nobody is responsible. It’s all society’s fault.’ All that is going to do is lead to a decay of America.”

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On Monday, the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), gathered for a field hearing in New York City to hear testimony from witnesses on how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's “pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents,” the committee's website said.

While Democrats likened the witnesses giving testimony to “props in a MAGA Broadway production,” one New York City mother, Madeline Brame, challenged that they “step one foot in the hood and tell me that those people there in that hood are props as well.”