[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 110 (Wednesday, August 10, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            CRIME BILL: UNFUNDED MANDATES AND TOO MUCH PORK

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, the Clinton crime bill says it will put 
100,000 new police officers on the streets. In reality, this bill 
guarantees funding for only 20,000 permanent new cops over the next 6 
years. That is only 20 percent of the total number of police officers 
promised by the bill's supporters.
  The Clinton crime bill assumes that State and local governments will 
pick up $33 billion in new expenditures over the next 6 years. They 
will have to if they want to meet the target of 100,000 new police 
officers.
  This bill will place another huge, unfunded mandate on our cities and 
towns, which are already overburdened by too many Federal rules and too 
much red tape.
  This bill gives the attorney general the discretion to decide which 
cities and States receive new community policing funds. Do not be 
surprised if we see handouts given to well-connected big-city 
politicians. And, of course, there is nearly $9 billion in new, Great 
Society-type social welfare spending.
  Mr. Speaker, if we have learned anything from the past, we see that 
our Nation has poured over 5 trillion tax dollars into our current 
welfare system since the so-called war on poverty was started in 1965. 
This is a bill that puts two social workers on the street for every one 
cop.
  Mr. Speaker, there is more wrong with this bill than right, such as 
unfunded mandates and too much social spending. We should go back to 
the drawing board and address the real concerns of the American people.

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