[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 38 (Tuesday, April 12, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    SHOULD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TRUST THE MAJORITY PARTY'S ANTICRIME 
                                PACKAGE?

  (Mr. HORN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, the No. 1 issue facing the Nation today, as 
each of us knows, is crime. In a recent public opinion poll in the city 
of Long Beach the voters were asked: ``What concerns you the most?''
  The first eight issues were some version of crime: Violence in the 
schools, illegal aliens, that one cannot walk out in the streets at 
night. The ninth was health care.
  Mr. Speaker, I care a lot about health care, and so do most of my 
colleagues. Only 2 percent of the people said this is the most serious 
problem.
  My colleagues will recall that a lot of us got on our feet on both 
sides of the aisle when the President of the United States came before 
us and addressed us on the State of the Union and talked about what 
needed to be done on crime. We thought he was talking about the bill 
being offered by the gentleman from Florida [Mr. McCollum] on the 
Republican side of the aisle, the only solid bill before the House that 
actually deals with the problem. But, no, the President was not. He had 
no bill here. Neither did his party. His party now has a bill here, and 
it is a pretty sad bill.
  Mr. Speaker, should the American people really trust the 
administration, or the majority party, to come up with a tough 
anticrime package? The fact is they should not. The majority's answer 
to crime is to weaken the current law when it comes to the death 
penalty, and instead of clearing obstacles so we can have swift 
justice, they will prolong for years the legal roadblocks all the way.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for a change.
  Instead of including the death penalty and appropriate procedures for 
drug kingpins, the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee failed to 
include the court-required procedures in the bill which means such a 
death penalty is null and void.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for a change.
  Instead of including a truth in sentencing criterion which would 
condition Federal aid to construct State prisons, the Democrats on the 
Judiciary Committee rejected that approach. In 1990, court ordered 
confinement for violent crimes averaged 7.8 years, but the felons only 
served 3.1, years on the average. Republicans wanted their felons to 
serve 85 percent of their State time.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for a change.
  When it comes to the No. 1 issue facing the country, the majority 
does not measure up. It is time for the minority to become the new 
majority. After 40 years of one-party rule, it is time for a change.

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