[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]

 
              CRIME BILL CONTAINS TOO MUCH SOCIAL SPENDING

  (Mr. EWING asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EWING. Mr. Speaker, I have spoken to a number of law enforcement 
officials in my district about the crime bill conference report, and 
they tell me it contains too much unproductive social spending. They 
believe a bill that funds programs to take criminals off the street and 
lock them up, like the Byrne grant program, is what is needed.
  Yesterday the House passed a 26-percent increase in Byrne grants, 
which puts money directly in the hands of local police forces to fight 
violent criminals, gangs, and drug traffickers. This will do a lot more 
to reduce crime than the nearly $10 billion in social spending in the 
crime bill.
  In the past 30 years the Government has spent trillions of dollars on 
the type of social welfare programs which are now in the crime bill. At 
the same time, violent crime has escalated. We ought to learn from our 
mistakes and put our money into programs we know will work, like the 
Byrne grants.
  Mr. Speaker, let us write a crime bill that attacks criminals. If we 
want to pass a social welfare bill, let us not call it a crime bill.

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