[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 39 (Wednesday, April 13, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       FEDERAL CRIME INITIATIVES

  (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the House is scheduled to 
consider this week H.R. 4092, the Violent Crime Control Act. I would 
like to express my support for this bill and encourage my colleagues to 
support this bill as well. In my home State of Texas our prisons are at 
peak capacity and our local county governments are forced to bear the 
cost of incarcerating criminals that the State cannot find room for.
  H.R. 4092 would not only provide the funds needed to build additional 
prisons, it will move us in the right direction in crime control. This 
bill contains the ``three strikes and you're out'' provision, 
components of the Violence Against Women Act, as well as grants to 
State and local governments to develop innovative programs to deal with 
juvenile offenders. These programs could include boot camps, weekend 
incarceration, or community service for young offenders.
  In Houston, we have reduced our crime rate by increasing the number 
of police. President Clinton has used this example as a model for his 
plan to put 50,000 new police on the streets through a Federal grant 
system for community policing.
  We need only pick up a newspaper or turn on the local television news 
to be reminded of our crime problem. Our citizens are scared to walk 
the streets and often fear answering the doorbell without carrying a 
gun. We must do better at controlling this problem and H.R. 4092 is a 
good start. One of our local television stations in Houston has a 
special called ``City under Siege'' which highlights the crime problem. 
Our Nation is under siege as well and it is time to enact a crime 
control package that responds to the violence that plagues this Nation.

                          ____________________