[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 26, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
     REPUBLICANS ARE WILLING TO WORK WITH THE PRESIDENT
  (Mr. GINGRICH asked was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, I hope that the Democratic leadership will 
decide to bring to the floor a crime bill which reflects the 
President's goals as outlined last night. We, on the Republican side, 
would like to ensure that people convicted of three felonies get life 
imprisonment.
  We would like to ensure that there are enough prisons for State and 
local communities and the Federal Government to lock up violent 
offenders.
  We would like to take the steps necessary to ensure, for example, by 
releasing the unfunded mandates so that cities and counties could 
direct resources to fighting crime, to hiring policemen, to building 
prisons, to hiring prosecutors.
  We believe it is possible to write a genuine crime bill matching what 
the Senate has done. But so far, the Democratic leadership has only 
brought forward tiny little pigmy bills, traveling across for press 
release purposes, and they have refused to schedule a crime bill like 
the one the President was alluding to last night.
  We, on the Republican side, stand ready and eager to work with the 
Democratic leadership, if they will only schedule a crime bill to meet 
the objectives the President outlined.

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