[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]


                              {time}  1410
 
                      WHY I OPPOSE THE CRIME BILL

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have always felt that membership 
in this body carried with it the fundamental responsibility to protect 
our constituents: to provide them safety in their homes and to assure 
them that every cent Congress extracted from them was essential and 
well-spent. Sadly, this crime bill does neither of these things.
  This bill cannot guarantee to my constituents that the $4 billion it 
would demand from them for social programs would be well-spent, even if 
it is well-meant. Even if it could, this is not the place for it.
  This social spending, if it should take place at all, should be put 
somewhere else and debated at some other time.
  Nor can this bill keep its promise to my constituents to protect them 
as well as it claims. It totally ignores the need for a complete 
overhaul of our criminal alien deportation process so that these 
individuals can be quickly and permanently removed from the United 
States.
  Even the popular three-strikes-and-you're-out provision of this bill 
is flawed. The third strike must be a Federal crime. Only 5 percent of 
violent crimes are Federal crimes. So, this bill will only affect a few 
hundred criminals every year.
  Finally, this bill relies heavily on a favorite bait-and-switch: gun 
crimes. This bill generously extends meaningless gun control provisions 
that will not save any lives. The banned weapons are used only in a 
sliver of 1 percent of violent crimes and the criminals who do use them 
will simply switch to other weapons or get them illegally.
  On the other hand, the bill refuses to severely punish the criminals 
who actually use guns when they commit a crime. Unbelievably, the bill 
does not make the use of a gun in a State crime a Federal offense for 
which there would be a guaranteed sure and swift punishment.
  This bill will not allow me to keep my fundamental promise to my 
constituents: to protect them and their tax dollars.
  Mr. Speaker, we would be much better off if we directed more money 
toward hardheaded law enforcement instead of softheaded social programs 
and empty-headed gun control. So would the American people.

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