[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 115 (Tuesday, August 16, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                E X T E N S I O N   O F   R E M A R K S


           PASS THE CRIME BILL: KEEP THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN

                                 ______


                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 16, 1994

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, I was privileged to stand 
side by side in New York City with the Attorney General of the United 
States, Janet Reno, the Governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, the police 
commissioner of New York City, William Bratton, the U.S. attorney for 
the southern district, Mary Jo White, and our colleague Chuck Schumer, 
to urge the House to pass the omnibus anticrime bill with the ban on 
assault weapons.
  I want to congratulate Attorney General Reno for her strong fight to 
pass the crime bill. She came to a town meeting I hosted in Manhattan 
way back on Valentine's Day to promote the anticrime legislation. As I 
said back then, what better Valentine's present could she give to New 
York than safer streets for ourselves and our children?
  Clearly, in New York and across the country, guns and crime are out 
of control. Most New Yorkers have feared for their lives at one time or 
another.
  A few years ago, three armed thugs broke into my home, physically 
attacked my daughter, my husband, and me, and put a cold knife to my 
back. We escaped that attack with our lives. Others have not been so 
lucky.
  We remember all too well the horrible massacre on the Long Island 
Rail Road. It was carried out by a crazed man with an assault weapon 
that the crime bill would ban.
  Crime is so bad that one of New York's daily newspapers publishes a 
daily count of how many of our citizens were shot and killed the day 
before. This year, 621 have been gunned down. Five people were killed 
just yesterday. One was a 13-month old infant while he slept in his 
mother's arms.
  But last week, the House turned a deaf ear to those victims and their 
families by rejecting the Federal crime bill on a procedural vote. The 
crime bill contained an assault weapons ban and more than $850 million 
in Federal aid to New York City to fight and prevent crime. After 12 
years of declining Federal aid to the cities under previous 
administrations, this crime bill is undoubtedly the best piece of 
Federal legislation for my city in more than a decade. And I want to 
congratulate Mayor Giuliani for putting partisan politics aside and 
recognizing that in our Nation's cities, fighting crime is simply job 
No. 1.
  Thanks in part to the mayor's input, the crime bill would provide 
millions of dollars to upgrade police equipment and computer systems 
that will allow more cops to get out from behind desks and into our 
streets, and will cover overtime costs.
  The crime bill will provide millions for new prison construction. 
This will ensure that the bill's ``truth in sentencing'' provision can 
be enforced so prison will not be a revolving door. The bill will root 
out crime with prevention programs, including keeping schools open 
after hours and on weekends, and providing job training and job 
creation in high crime areas.
  To fight domestic violence, the bill will fund the Violence Against 
Women Act.
  Mr. Speaker, some people say that the crime bill needs to be changed 
so that it will pass. Some have suggested stripping the assault weapons 
ban out of it. But I think this bill does not need to change. It is 
Congress that needs to change. It is time to send a message to 
criminals and the NRA and pass the crime bill as it is.
  It would be a crime to vote against it.

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