[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 120 (Sunday, August 21, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                THIS CRIME BILL IS NOT THE RIGHT ANSWER

  (Mr. HOKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, we have established that this bill is not 
about chickens. What I would like to suggest is that this bill is about 
political demagoguery and the exploitation of the legitimate fears, the 
legitimate anxiety and the legitimate concern that the American public 
has got about crime. The problem is that what the bill will not do is 
answer any of those legitimate fears, anxieties and concerns, because 
what it will do is give politicians in this House on both sides of the 
aisle the opportunity to go back to their constituents and claim that 
they have done something real and substantive. The best thing that 
happened a week ago when we defeated the rule is that the sunshine 
poured in and the American public as well as the Members in this House 
actually learned what was in the bill and we found out that however it 
is characterized, there was a tremendous amount of social spending that 
is very, very difficult to justify as crime prevention and a bill that 
works against crime. That is what we did find out. Now we are being 
asked in the next 4 hours to vote on another bill that we simply have 
not seen and have not read.

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