[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]

 
                             THE CRIME BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kopetski). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Barca] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BARCA of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, tonight there is a group of 
conferees on the crime bill that will be meeting once again in the hope 
of bringing together and moving forward with a crime bill. We have 
heard on this floor Members express concerns with the crime bill. Some 
of those concerns are legitimate.
  Hopefully the bottom line is, though, hopefully they will work 
together in a spirit of compromise to bring forward a crime bill. One 
of the most important things to our Nation is the security of our 
population.
  Just in the last 12 hours I have gotten calls from different corners 
of my district and people have expressed dire concern and have been 
just pleading that we pass some version of a crime bill this session. 
The problem with people that point out that this provision is not in 
that we would like to have in or this provision should be out that 
should be out of the crime bill is that at some point we need to pass a 
crime bill. We need to do it for people like Mary Ann Gdisis whose 
granddaughter was shot at in the last 3 days, who fears that violent 
criminals are being let out of prison because there is not enough 
prison space. We need to do it for Gloria Ramierez from Kenosua, whose 
grandson, Curtis Lawrence Reed and his family had to move out of an 
urban area into a more rural area because of their fear of crime.
  That is why we have to pass a crime bill, because there are people in 
America, in my district in Wisconsin that believe that the major 
components in this bill will do something about crime.
  That is why every major law enforcement organization has endorsed 
this bill, because they believe that by passing the major provisions in 
this bill we will do something about crime.
  I think law enforcement officials know something about crime. I think 
they understand when a bill is tough. I think they understand when a 
bill is smart. That is why I think they are calling upon the Congress 
to work together, by God, in a spirit of bipartisanship to pass a crime 
bill.
  We passed a crime bill in this House. Just 3 or 4 months ago we 
passed a crime bill, and there was strong bipartisan support.
  There have been changes since that period, and hopefully we can make 
some more changes this evening to get us back to that point, because 
the people of this country know that the major provisions in this bill 
have to become law. And that is our job, to try to make that happen.
  There are provisions in this bill to add more cops on the street. We 
know it is essential, because when we met with the new director of the 
Drug Enforcement Agency with our Law Enforcement Caucus, he expressed 
to us that there are far fewer cops on the street for the number of 
crimes that are being committed. The reason that is important is 
because every time they apprehend somebody, and they have to leave 
their position on the street to bring that person into the police 
department, to book that individual, you need another police officer on 
the street to cover that territory. What he had explained to us, Mr. 
Constantine said to our Law Enforcement Caucus is that they have far 
fewer cops today for the number of crimes on the streets. That is why 
we need a crime bill.
  We need a crime bill because we need more prison space to make sure 
that violent and repeat offenders are not let out of prison for lack of 
space.

  We need it for the provisions of three strikes and you are out to 
provide some certainty that if you continue to commit offenses, this 
society will no longer tolerate your behavior, and you will be put away 
for the rest of your life to protect society.
  We need it for prevention, because as a former teacher of emotionally 
disturbed youth, as a former employment coordinator, I know that we 
need to make sure that young people have structure in their lives. We 
need to make sure that there are programs to try to deter them from 
turning to a life of crime. There are a lot of kids in society today 
that are on the brink of doing the right thing or going the wrong way 
into a life of crime. That is why we need some prevention programs in 
here.
  So I call on my colleagues tonight to work together. Let us pass this 
bill. We can do it, and we can make sure that the Mary Ann Gdisises and 
Gloria Ramierezes and their families are safe.

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