[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 117 (Thursday, August 18, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 18, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
PRESIDENT BUSH NAMED MIDNIGHT BASKETBALL AS ONE OF HIS 1,000 POINTS of 
                                 LIGHT

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, over the last week, midnight basketball has 
become the favorite scapegoat of Republicans trying to explain their 
votes against the crime bill. Republicans say that midnight basketball 
is nothing more than social pork. Republicans say that it is a feel-
good program that has nothing to do with crime. But, that is not what 
Republican President George Bush was saying just a few short years ago. 
In fact, the former leader of the Republican party named midnight 
basketball as 1 of his 1,000 points of light.
  And, in 1991, when President Bush visited a pilot midnight basketball 
league he had this to say, and I quote: ``Here everybody wins * * *. 
Everyone gets a better shot at life. It's about providing opportunity 
for young adults to escape drugs and the streets* * *.''
  Midnight basketball may not work everywhere. But, it works in New 
Haven, CT, and in many other urban areas struggling to provide young 
people with alternatives to crime and drugs. It is a crime that some 
Republicans are using partisan politics to snuff out a point of light.

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