[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]

 
     AN APPRECIATION FOR BIPARTISAN COOPERATION: MAY THERE BE MORE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Horn] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I was delighted to see the example of 
bipartisan cooperation which was entered in this afternoon by both the 
Democratic and Republican leaders and the Speaker.
  The crime bill is an immensely importantly piece of legislation for 
most who live in urban America. Increasingly, we have seen crime move 
from urban America to suburban and even rural America.
  At last we have an effort on both sides to reach constructive 
agreement as to how we might improve this bill and have a very 
effective piece of legislation.
  Basic to those negotiations is the belief that the people at the 
local level and their elected officials--the city councils, the mayors, 
and the city managers--know best what is needed in their community. 
They will know where the line should be drawn between enforcement and 
prevention programs. Both are needed. The question is: In what 
proportion and how effective will a particular program be?
  I am delighted to say that this is the first major bipartisan effort 
I have seen since NAFTA--the North American Free-Trade Agreement. I 
think it bodes well for the country. Certainly, the President and the 
Members of his staff who have been involved deserve credit for that 
realization.
  I hope the President will take bipartisan cooperation seriously in 
the future. He is at a crossroads in his presidency. We want him to be 
a successful President. He is the Nation's President, and if you are 
going to be successful, you have to enter into bipartisan cooperation 
from the beginning. As Senator Vandenberg said in the 1940's, you have 
to be in on the takoffs, not just the crash landings.
  The crime bill can be a takeoff, if these negotiations are 
successful. I think most of us in this Chamber on both sides of the 
aisle wish those conferees well.
  I particularly want to thank the Speaker for naming a colleague, 
fellow freshman, former Governor, the gentleman from Delaware [Mr. 
Castle], as a conferee. Michael Castle has done a splendid job in 
bringing people together and putting an agenda together that reflects 
the views of the great majority, I feel, in this Chamber.
  I wish that conference well and hopefully by tomorrow afternoon we 
will have a constructive piece of legislation before us--a bill we can 
approve.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to include for the Record a letter which a 
group of Republicans sent to the President yesterday which outlines 
some of the proposals that are being made in the conference that will 
soon be underway.

                                     House of Representatives,

                                  Washington, DC, August 18, 1994.
     Hon. William J. Clinton,
     President of the United States,
     The White House, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: We have been working for quite some 
     time on arriving at a compromise on the crime bill that will 
     command an overwhelming majority of votes in the House. We 
     believe that the crime bill should not be passed by merely a 
     vote or two along essentially party lines. We must pass a 
     consensus crime bill and move together toward solving our 
     Nation's serious violent crime problem.
       We met with several representatives from the White House 
     and the Justice Department today in order to reach such a 
     compromise on a consensus crime bill. Specifically, we 
     informed these representatives that a crime bill based on the 
     following points could command a significant number of 
     Republican votes:
       First, delete the Brooks' provision for Lamar University.
       Second, cut a minimum of $3.5 billion from the social 
     spending in the bill.
       Third, in order to achieve this cut, we urge the creation 
     of a block grant for the police funding and the social 
     spending/prevention funding at approximately $12 billion. 
     Under this approach, states and cities could decide for 
     themselves how best to use this money to fight crime.
       Fouth, prison funding must be set at $10.5 billion (all 
     from the crime reduction trust fund) for construction of new 
     state prisons or boot camps only (no funding for alternative 
     forms of incarceration beyond these two categories), with a 
     truth-in-sentencing requirement based on the Chapman-McCollum 
     language in the current bill.
       Other policy changes that we believe are crucial include: 
     Dunn/Zimmer sexual predators provision; Gekas death penalty 
     procedures; Molinari-Dole provisions on evidence of prior sex 
     offenses; Eliminate retroactivity in mandatory minimum 
     sentencing reform for drug offenders; Gramm provision making 
     a separate federal offense the use of a gun in committing a 
     state crime; and Simpson provision on expedited deportation 
     of criminal aliens.
       Policy changes that we suggest include: Mandatory HIV 
     testing in rape trials; Schiff provisions on treatment of 
     juveniles; and Nickles provision mandating victim 
     restitution.
       We believe that if these changes are made to the crime 
     bill, we can arrive very quickly at a bipartisan solution to 
     the current impasses that will have a significant impact on 
     reducing violent crime in the United States. We look forward 
     to working with you toward this important goal.
           Sincerely,
         Susan Molinari, John Porter, Wayne Gilchrest, Scott Klug, 
           Clay Shaw, Michael N. Castle, James, T. Walsh, Stephen 
           Horn, Deborah Pryce, Curt Weldon, James A. Leach, David 
           A. Levy, Peter T. King, James C. Greenwood, Herbert H. 
           Bateman, Dick Zimmer, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Peter G. 
           Torkildsen, John R. Kasich, Rick Lazio, David L. 
           Hobson, C.W. Bill Young, Bob Franks, Gary A. Franks, 
           Jim Saxton, Tillie K. Fowler, Paul Gillmor, Ron 
           Machtley, Olympia Snowe, Porter J. Goss, Michael 
           Huffington, Chris Smith, and Jim Ramstad.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Owens] is recognized for 5 minutes.

  [Mr. OWENS addressed the House. His remarks will appear hereafter in 
the Extensions of Remarks.]

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