[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]

 
                   NO UNFUNDED MANDATES ON CRIME BILL

  (Mr. GRAMS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. Speaker, as we debate the crime bill this week, I ask 
my colleagues to consider the views of Sharpe James, mayor of Newark, 
NJ. According to Mayor James, the average U.S. municipality spends 
about 11 percent of its budget on public safety, and 11 percent on 
unfunded Federal mandates. He said;

       The crime bill says we'll give you 100,000 police officers. 
     If they were to remove the burden of unfunded federal 
     mandates, they wouldn't have to give us the officers. We 
     could hire them ourselves.

  When will this Congress start to heed the real life experiences of 
the people who must obey our dictates?
  When will this Congress realize that one-size-fits-all regulations, 
handcuff States and municipalities, thereby robbing them of their 
capacity to spend their tax dollars as local taxpayers see fit?
  Promising 100,000 new police officers to U.S. cities is a feel good 
measure that doesn't address the core problem: Unfunded Federal 
mandates take away everyone's ability to establish priorities. The 
needs of States, cities, and families play second fiddle to the often 
arbitrary rules handed down by Congress and the bureaucracy.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for Congress to step up to the plate and make 
the tough decisions. If this Congress wants to mandate certain actions, 
it should provide the necessary funding, if not, it should leave those 
decisions to local officials.

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