[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]

 
 WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON HOUSE AMENDMENTS 
    TO SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 3355, VIOLENT CRIME CONTROL AND LAW 
                        ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 1993

                                 ______


                               speech of

                             HON. JIM KOLBE

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, August 11, 1994

  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule on this so-
called crime bill conference report. Since my constituents first sent 
me to Congress to represent them, I have pushed for crime control 
measures that put personal safety above political expediency. But, Mr. 
Speaker, I could not look my fellow Arizonans in the eye and honestly 
say that this bill puts people over politics. That is why I am voting 
against this rule; it is the only opportunity for us to send this bill 
back to conference and make the conferees fix this bill so that it 
attacks crime and gives law enforcement the tools to fight criminals.
  I know about the terrible crime problem southern Arizonans face 
almost daily. I hear from them about their fears and frustrations. It 
is easy to understand why crime is America's number one concern. But 
despite their concern with crime, this crime bill has not been embraced 
by the public. Why? I think it is because people realize it will be 
ineffective in the fight against violent crime while costing taxpayers 
over $33 billion. Americans know this Nation has a dysfunctional 
criminal justice system--a system that releases dangerous criminals 
into the community when they should be serving their sentences, a 
system that gives more weight to the rights of criminals than to 
victims, and makes it impossible to carry out the death penalty when it 
is imposed. And this conference report is dysfunctional--like the 
system it seeks to reform.
  Even key criminal justice experts have spoken out against the crime 
conference report. FBI Director Louis Freeh criticized the bill, saying 
it would hurt local and Federal law enforcement more than it would help 
by robbing them of funds. Princeton professor John J. Dilulio, Jr., a 
Democrat who is widely recognized as the Nation's foremost student of 
criminal justice issues, originally supported the administration's 
anticrime proposals. He supports a ban on assault weapons, and he 
supports some social spending. However, he argues that the bill 
reported by the conference should be abandoned. ``It will do nothing to 
reduce the country's crime problem,'' he says, ``In fact, it may 
actually add to it.''
  Let us look at why this bill will do nothing to fight crime.
  First, this bill does not address what I, and Members from both 
parties, have fought for--procedural reform, not redistribution of 
wealth through grant programs. This conference report contains no 
habeas corpus reform, no exclusionary rule reform, and weakened Federal 
death penalty provisions. In short, this bill does nothing to ensure 
swift punishment for the guilty.
  Additionally, the conferees stripped or weakened many of the tough 
anticrime provisions included in the original House and Senate bills. 
for example, provisions allowing prosecutors to treat violent juveniles 
13 and older as adults in appropriate cases were eliminated. Provisions 
passed by the House to strengthen death penalty procedures were 
stripped. Mandatory HIV testing of accused rapists was erased. The 
provision allowing for the admissibility of evidence of similar crimes 
in sex offenses was dropped. These are just a few examples that were 
stripped from the bill.
  The much praised cops-on-the-beat program will quickly become a huge 
burden for communities because the numbers do not add up for this 
program. The $8.85-billion community policing grant program will only 
provide enough funding to keep 20,000 permanent cops on the street over 
the next 6 years. To keep 100,000 cops on the beat for the next 6 
years, States and localities will have to kick in over $30 billion to 
make up the difference. I have personally spoken to sheriffs and policr 
chiefs in my district who are wary of this too-good-to-be-true 
provision.
  This bill is flawed because it could put twice as many social workers 
on the streets as it does cops. It authorizes $8.7 billion to create 
nearly 30 new crime prevention programs. This is added to the welfare 
state that already costs taxpayers $310 billion per year. The United 
States has spent $5 trillion on the War on Poverty since 1965, yet the 
national crime rate has not declined. The new programs created will 
duplicate at least 50 existing federally funded crime prevention grant 
programs. These programs are in the bill to garner support from an 
interest group within Congress, and these programs have escaped 
scrutiny. These programs are little more than infrastructure, social, 
and job training programs under a crime prevention label. Make no 
mistake; some social prevention programs have been successful, but if 
the Federal Government is to fund programs, we should at least make 
sure that the money will not be wasted on liberal social engineering.
  I support the construction of new prisons, but the money for this 
purpose--$10.5 billion--is not what it is cracked up to be. Over $2.2 
billion of that money is not financed and $1.8 billion of the funding 
goes to housing criminal illegal aliens. Although I support reimbursing 
States for the cost of incarcerating convicted illegal aliens, this 
money will go to States as decided by the Attorney General--not 
necessarily to those who need it. All told, the total trust fund funds 
going to build prisons is $6.5 billion. But there's more: States and 
localities are not required to actually build prisons, and can instead 
use the funds for any activity affecting prisoners postconviction. They 
could fund anything from half-way houses to macrame classes, as long as 
those utilizing the funds have been convicted.

  I also oppose the assault weapons ban and the ban on gun magazines 
that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. I believe this ban is of 
at least dubious constitutionality, and will do nothing to make our 
streets safer.
  This bill represents what my constituents are sick and tired of--
politics as usual. This $32-billion bill is a perfect example of fiscal 
incompetence and a back-door channeling of taxpayers' dollars towards 
special-interest groups and political payoffs. Congress is authorizing 
more money than ever before for a crime prevention bill which is a 
product of dishonest government playing on the fears that every 
American is experiencing.
  The process used by House leadership is just as dishonest. Members 
have had barely 6 hours to examine the 450-plus page conference report 
which just appeared in the Congressional Record. Just as the American 
people are demanding that they have a chance to examine health care 
proposals before they are voted on, they also demand that we have the 
opportunity to read and understand the crime bill before we vote on it.
  We have a criminal justice system that releases dangerous criminals 
into the community when they should be serving their sentences, that 
gives more weight to the rights of criminals than to victims, and makes 
it impossible to carry out the death penalty when it is imposed. We 
need to defeat this rule and send the conference report back to the 
drawing board so that Congress can bring back a crime bill that will do 
the job. The Federal Government should be assisting States and local 
governments in their efforts to lockup criminals, protect victims' 
rights, and provide the tools to make law enforcement even more 
effective.
  I urge my colleagues to defeat this rule.

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