[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 45 (Thursday, April 21, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO VOTE FOR THE CRIME BILL TODAY

  (Mr. GEKAS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, the 11th hour has come 
for consideration of the crime bill, and I, who am the author of some 
of the provisions in the crime bill, and one who has always been tough 
on criminals, as I view it, and on repeat offenders and violent 
offenders especially, am constrained to vote against the very crime 
bill which I helped to craft in some of its important provisions.
  Why? Because there are important flaws that are built into the crime 
bill that may make it absolutely useless. No. 1, it has as one of its 
major provisions gigantic additional spending programs for programs 
that, under the Great Society Program, failed and failed miserably and 
now are being reintroduced as part of a crime bill.
  We want tough measures, not money measures just for the purpose of 
prevention, rather for being tough on criminals.
  Second, it is possible that the Federal Government, through this 
crime bill, will be mandating local authorities to spend some of their 
money when we do not provide it for them, unfunded mandates.
  We may not be able to support this crime bill.

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