[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 11 (Tuesday, February 8, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           UNWISE PROGRAM ELIMINATIONS IN PRESIDENT'S BUDGET

  (Mr. SCHIFF asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, when the President released his budget 
yesterday to the Congress and to the American people, the 
administration touted the fact that there was a proposal to eliminate 
approximately 100 programs that the administration felt were no longer 
necessary, totaling approximately 3\1/4\ billion dollars' worth of 
spending.
  One of these programs was a program of the Department of Justice, and 
even though this was only one program, the spending on this one program 
at $358 million a year makes up more than 10 percent of this entire 
cut. Now what was this program that the administration proposes to 
eliminate from the Department of Justice? This is the main program that 
provides grants to aid State and local law enforcement agencies for the 
arrest and prosecution of dangerous criminals.
  Mr. Speaker, only a week or so before this in this Chamber, the 
President of the United States said that fighting crime was a major 
objective of his administration this year, and that included helping 
State and local law enforcement agencies, because as we all know, it is 
they who bear the great brunt of this fight.
  It seems to me that this proposal in the budget release yesterday to 
eliminate the main grant and aid program to State and local law 
enforcement agencies contradicts the stated goal of the administration 
to help fight crime.
  Mr. Speaker, I am drafting a letter to the President of the United 
States to urge him to reconsider this proposed termination of a program 
that is so vital to accomplishing the goals of this administration, and 
I urge all Members to join me in signing it.

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