[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 115 (Tuesday, August 16, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
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]

 
                     ANOTHER VIEW ON THE CRIME BILL

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the 
house for 1 minute.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I am going to 
remove my reservation as a courtesy to the gentleman and look forward 
to hearing his 1-minute.
  Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the gentleman from 
California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, just to offer the other point of view on 
this very interesting subject, we have had phone calls pouring into our 
office. As far as I can tell there is no organized effort to cause this 
to happen. Yet they are running 10 to 15 to 1 against the crime bill. 
People really are clearly understanding that this is just a typical 
pork barrel type of approach using the politics that have failed to 
stem the 300-percent increase in the overall crime rate since 1960, 
during which time we had an 800-percent increase in social welfare 
spending.
  Here is a bill that comes along with programs for midnight 
basketball, arts and crafts, dance lessons and projects of various 
kinds, good old-fashion pork.
  People are just tired of it. They do not want that. They want a lean, 
mean crime bill, more prisons, more cops on the streets, habeas corpus 
reform which is completely missing from the bill, which will expedite 
the death penalty appeals. That is the type of criminal justice reform 
the people of my district are seeking.
  I would like just to indicate that this bill that was rejected on the 
rule last week does not meet those criteria. It should have been 
rejected, and it will be rejected again unless it is changed.

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