[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 111 (Thursday, August 11, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 11, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
       RESPONSE TO THE HOUSE VOTE ON THE CRIME CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, our fine Republican leader spoke earlier, 
as did our able ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, in response 
to President Clinton's unwarranted attack on the NRA and Republicans.
  It is curious that our own President continues to be the leader of 
the ``Gunsmoke'' rhetoric about the conference report on the crime 
bill.
  Wasteful and frivolous spending programs permeate every single page 
of what must be over 700 pages of stealth spending.
  Unlike the tough Senate bill, what came out of the conference 
committee was not a real crime bill. It was the son of the economic 
stimulus package.
  I commend our House colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, who had 
the strength to stand on principle, rather than be bought with pie-in-
the-sky promises of Federal dollars being funneled into their 
congressional districts.
  That took a great deal of courage--especially in an election year. 
The bipartisan majority that rejected the procedure to consider this 
conference report deserves our respect.
  It is grossly misleading--we have an easier way of saying that in 
Wyoming--to suggest the embarrassing vote against the President was 
somehow orchestrated by the NRA.
  The NRA was certainly active--they have been throughout all the many 
years of debate on gun control.
  But they have not been very successful lately.
  The Brady bill passed, the assault weapons ban, which the NRA 
opposed, was included in the Senate version of this legislation. It 
passed with only 4 dissenting votes--on a tally of 95-4.
  So I find it very curious that now, the President of the United 
States of America believes that suddenly, in a single-party Government, 
the NRA has increased its awesome powers of persuasion to atmospheric 
levels--and killed this legislation.
  He must blame someone, and the NRA is a convenient target, because I 
hunch that this administration finds it hard to justify the glut of 
social spending in this legislation.
  The crime bill conference report is nothing more than an attempt to 
resurrect the urban spending programs in the failed economic stimulus 
package of 1993.
  This legislation is flawed. It should fail. It did.
  It should be returned to the Manufacturer and replaced.
  We should replace it with a real crime bill. That is what the 
majority of House Members said today.

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