[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 118 (Friday, August 19, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               RECOMMENDING A LEAN, EFFICIENT CRIME BILL

  (Mr. EHLERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise, as many others have done, to discuss 
the crime bill. However, I am going to take a different approach, 
because I deplore the political rhetoric that we have heard day after 
day after day.
  In my opinion, Mr. Speaker, the issue is not the NRA. They have not 
even talked to me. The issue is not the pork, which in some cases is 
mislabeled. The point is simply that, as many of us who oppose the 
crime bill, and I happen to be one who voted against it the first time 
it came through the House, I simply want a crime bill that is lean, 
efficient, that will work, and that will give the citizens their 
money's worth. That was not true of the original crime bill when it 
came through the House. I believe the conference report was even worse.
  Mr. Speaker, James Q. Wilson, who I believe is the most noted and 
best criminologist in this Nation, commented on NPR a few days ago. He 
said, ``The problem with the crime bill is that it was filled with 
programs that have been proven not to work and does not include 
programs that have been proven to work.'' I believe he said it well. I 
hope that we soon get a crime bill that will work. I will certainly be 
happy to support it if we get one like that.

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