[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 124 (Thursday, August 25, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: August 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
VOTE
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate
that debate on the conference report accompanying H.R. 3355, the
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, shall be brought to a
close? The yeas and nays are required. The clerk will call the roll.
Mr. SIMPSON. I announce that the Senator from Wyoming [Mr. Wallop] is
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Akaka). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 61, nays 38, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 294 Leg.]
YEAS--61
Akaka
Baucus
Biden
Bingaman
Boren
Boxer
Bradley
Breaux
Bryan
Bumpers
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee
Conrad
Danforth
Daschle
DeConcini
Dodd
Dorgan
Exon
Feinstein
Ford
Glenn
Graham
Harkin
Heflin
Hollings
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnston
Kassebaum
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Mathews
Metzenbaum
Mikulski
Mitchell
Moseley-Braun
Moynihan
Murray
Nunn
Pell
Pryor
Reid
Riegle
Robb
Rockefeller
Roth
Sarbanes
Sasser
Simon
Specter
Warner
Wellstone
Wofford
NAYS--38
Bennett
Bond
Brown
Burns
Coats
Cochran
Cohen
Coverdell
Craig
D'Amato
Dole
Domenici
Durenberger
Faircloth
Feingold
Gorton
Gramm
Grassley
Gregg
Hatch
Hatfield
Helms
Hutchison
Kempthorne
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Nickles
Packwood
Pressler
Shelby
Simpson
Smith
Stevens
Thurmond
NOT VOTING--1
Wallop
The PRESIDING OFFICER. If not, on this vote the yeas are 61, the nays
are 38. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted
in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. DASCHLE. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on adoption of the conference
report on H.R. 3355, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
of 1994.
The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. SIMPSON. I announce that the Senator from Wyoming [Mr. Wallop] is
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
who desire to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 61, nays 38, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 295 Leg.]
YEAS--61
Akaka
Baucus
Biden
Bingaman
Boren
Boxer
Bradley
Breaux
Bryan
Bumpers
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee
Cohen
Conrad
Danforth
Daschle
DeConcini
Dodd
Dorgan
Exon
Feinstein
Ford
Glenn
Graham
Harkin
Heflin
Hollings
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnston
Kassebaum
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Mathews
Metzenbaum
Mikulski
Mitchell
Moseley-Braun
Moynihan
Murray
Nunn
Pell
Pryor
Reid
Riegle
Robb
Rockefeller
Roth
Sarbanes
Sasser
Simon
Specter
Wellstone
Wofford
NAYS--38
Bennett
Bond
Brown
Burns
Coats
Cochran
Coverdell
Craig
D'Amato
Dole
Domenici
Durenberger
Faircloth
Feingold
Gorton
Gramm
Grassley
Gregg
Hatch
Hatfield
Helms
Hutchison
Kempthorne
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Nickles
Packwood
Pressler
Shelby
Simpson
Smith
Stevens
Thurmond
Warner
NOT VOTING--1
Wallop
So the conference report was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which
the conference report was agreed to.
Mr. BIDEN. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware, the manager of the
bill, is recognized.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, let me say that just prior to vote I was
asked by one of the national journalists to answer the question why we
seem to fight so much, Democrats and Republicans.
I want to just point out some extraordinary thing that occurred
totally unrelated to this vote. I think it is illustrative of
notwithstanding how strongly we each feel about our positions on the
issues that we still work together and are genuinely friends.
During the midst of this vote, when the cloture vote began Cynthia
Hogan, my chief of staff and the person quite frankly who deserves more
credit for the passage of this bill than any, including me, said,
``Senator, I would like to have you call an executive committee meeting
off the floor.''
Now the reporters who cover the Judiciary know what that means. That
means we are going to have a meeting, a totally separate meeting in
order to vote out of committee a total of 14 Democratic nominees for
the circuit court of appeals, the district court, and U.S. Marshals and
Justice Department personnel, all requiring confirmation of the Senate.
I turned to Orrin Hatch, and I said, ``Orrin''--because you need
Republican cooperation--``will you come off into the Vice President's
room right over here and have an official meeting?''
Our Republican colleagues, all but one because they did not know
about it, marched off the floor. I called a meeting to order. We had a
quorum, which means we have enough to be able to vote legally. I moved
that all these people be approved. I have a list here. It is 14.
I moved the nomination of these, all Democratic nominees. The
Republican colleagues voted for it. And they are sent to the floor,
instead of having to wait an entire month before we can get badly
needed judges on the bench. There was cooperation here by our
Republican colleagues.
I do not want to overdraw that, but just it is the way that business
works around this place with all the hollering and shouting and anger
we sometimes display, because we are so wrapped up in the issues. We
feel so strongfully about them. Nonetheless, in the end the peoples'
business gets done.
And I want to thank my colleagues.
I am going to take another several minutes of the Senate to quite
frankly not thank but pay tribute to the people who deserve the credit.
It has always been referred to here this has taken 6 years.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, will the Senator yield a moment?
Mr. BIDEN. I am delighted to yield.
Mr. SARBANES. I know the Senator is going to give the credit to all
those who helped him, and I know the hour is late. I will be very
brief.
Mr. President, I want to simply underscore again the extraordinary
job of leadership which the distinguished Senator from Delaware has
provided on this crime issue, not just now, but throughout this long
process, the number of years in bringing us finally to the point where
the Senate has enacted this very smart, tough, crime bill, and I just
salute the distinguished Senator from Delaware, my neighbor as it is
and my good friend for the extraordinary, extraordinary, committed,
dedicated leadership he has provided throughout the consideration of
this issue.
Mr. BIDEN. I thank the Senator from Maryland.
Let me talk about the people who do make this work. You know I read
an article in the newspaper, and this goes to the Republican staff that
I worked with on the committee as well.
It was an article in our hometown paper that talked about not the
Judiciary staff, but all staff people, how they all get paid too much
money, and so on.
I want to point out that the majority of my key staff people on the
Judiciary Committee took pay cuts to take these jobs, substantial pay
cuts, tens of thousands of dollars per year in pay cuts. And I think it
is shown why we have such good people here because they are, in fact,
committed.
I want to start off and again pay tribute to the chief counsel of the
Judiciary Committee, Cynthia Hogan. She is smart. She is tough. And I
think I can say without any equivocation there is no Democratic or
Republican Senator on this floor who does not respect her, and when
they ask her themselves and she tells them they absolutely take it to
the bank, absolutely just take it to the bank, and the most incredible
and important currency in this body in this Senate is one's word.
And you have no idea, Mr. President, how easy my job is when all I
have to do is ask Cynthia Hogan. Right now I bet you there are 25
Senators who can tell me Cynthia's office phone number without having
to look it up because they are so accustomed to calling her and asking
her her opinion or asking her for information, Republican as well as
Democrat.
So, Cynthia Hogan and the former chief of staff of this committee,
who was in the beginning of this process a fellow who started from the
beginning and who is not here. He is here in town. He works in town. He
is a fine lawyer, and his name is Mark Gitenstein. He put together this
original bill with me, and Ron Klain, who is now with the Justice
Department. But it was brought home by Cynthia Hogan.
I mentioned before, as a matter of fact, I saw an article in the
paper today, that there is a woman on my staff named Demetra Lambros.
Demetra Lambros stayed up ever night and these were averaging, if you
averaged them 2 o'clock ever night, Saturday, Sunday, stayed through.
Two of those nights were until 5 in the morning. And I come out of
meetings at 5 in the morning in negotiations and see this lovely woman
sitting on the marble stairs of the Capitol inside the Capitol with a
note pad in hand and answering questions off the top of her head about
complicated legal issues. And she was 4 days at that time overdue. She
is due to give birth. She was 4 days overdue. She sat here on the floor
until about 2 hours ago. She is on the floor back there now.
You are supposed to be home.
I have threatened to fire her. I have threatened everything to get
her out of here, but she is so invested in this bill, and I hope I am
not embarrassing her but she is now better more than a week overdue,
and I think now that her child knows that the crime bill is passed the
child is willing to come forth in a safer world because I want to tell
you there has to be some reason why she is able to do this. She is an
incredibly sharp lawyer.
And Chris Putala--Chris has been someone again who everyone has come
to rely on, not just me, all the Members of this Senate, particularly
the Democratic Members. He is a first rate lawyer, a man who now when
the police of this Nation and their organizations have any questions
they do not even bother to call me. They call Chris because they know
Chris speaks for me, and they know Chris knows of what he speaks, and
they trust him completely. Again it is trust.
And Ankur Goel is a new fellow on our staff, new this year, and he
came from working with the Justice Department for the last I think 5
years he had with the Justice Department and came over as a prosecutor
and has provided invaluable service.
I know this is boring to many people, but it is important to do this.
I do not want to overstate this but I think this if not a historic
occasion it is a significant occasion the passage of this bill.
I want their children and grandchildren and parents and husbands and
wives to know in the Record how much of a part they played.
Mr. President, there was a young woman, one of more than a dozen
children, who had worked her way through college, applied to Georgetown
Law School, was admitted, a top student at Georgetown Law School, who
started off as my appointments secretary, assistant appointments
secretary, and she is now someone who has helped write this bill and
pass the bill. Her name is Tracy Doherty. And do not be fooled, whoever
ends up on the other side of her in the courtroom, by her young and
lovely smile, this is one very bright, tough lady and did it all by
herself.
The idea that she would be on the floor, being relied upon by
everybody when, only 2\1/2\ years ago, she was sitting there, doing a
very important job, but having no knowledge of the criminal justice
system.
And by the way, she did all this while she was still going to school.
She was doing it full time and going to school.
And Andrew Plepler. Andrew is new--new in the sense that he has been
here for this bill.
Adam Gelb.
I have to get my glasses on to make sure I do not leave anybody out.
Jenna Nober, Mimi Murphy, Lisa Monaco, John Earnhardt, Rick Mihills,
Linda Belachew, Susanne Smith, and Joel Vengrin, all of my staff.
And Larry Spinelli of my staff and Jennifer Vollen, who are the ones
who had to answer all the questions by everybody about the staff.
And the minority leader's staff--and I feel like the phrase used on
this floor today a number of times by my Republican friends--hijacked.
They talked about bills being hijacked and ideas.
Well, I have hijacked truly outstanding staff people in this Senate,
Anita Jensen and Abby Saffold, and also the entire floor staff here.
And I am reluctant to give them back. They have made me look better
than I deserve. I thank them for that.
And the ultimate staff person I would like to thank is the majority
leader.
As I said in a press conference today--and I tell a tale on myself
here. Last night, as we were going in the final throes of this matter,
calling every one of the Senators to see where they were on the
Democratic side, he turned to Cynthia Hogan, chief counsel, and said,
``Let me write some talking points for him,'' which is what staff
people do. He gave me a four-sentence summary of what I should say to
Senators. I looked at him, I said, ``George, this will never work.''
The first three people I called, all hard cases on this issue, I read
it, and they said yes. And that was it. They went back to sleep.
So I thank him for his brilliant staff assistance.
And also again, members of Senator Hatch's staff, who we work with
every day and who are first rate. They may not want me mentioning them,
but I think they know how much respect I have for them personally.
Mark Disler, who is the No. 1 man over there. And Manus Cooney. It
seems like Manus and I have been doing crime bills for ever and ever.
Sharon Prost, who has been involved in this for years. And Larry Block
and Mike Kennedy.
And on Senator Dole's staff, Dennis Shea.
The thing about dealing with all of them, even though we disagreed, I
never have to wonder. When I ask them what the deal is, if they cannot
tell me, they do not tell me. If they can, whatever they tell me is
what it is.
And, as the Presiding Officer knows, there is, as I said, currency in
this place. The people you want to deal with are the people, when you
speak to them, you know what they tell you is exactly what they are
going to do.
Mr. President, as I said on the floor throughout this week, there is
more than one group of people responsible for helping me put this crime
bill together.
I want to point out one very important thing. That many of the
provisions in this bill, if not the majority of the provisions in this
bill, are original ideas and thoughts of Senators on this floor in both
political parties. I do not claim to have had the wisdom, knowledge, or
foresight to be able to think of the things that are in this bill that
I think will make a difference in people's lives.
The only thing in this bill that I wrote from scratch was the
Violence Against Women Act. That was a small part of this. Maybe that
is why I was so emotionally attached to it. But for every other good
idea in this bill, there is a Senator here--and including that one, as
well--there is a Senator here who can rightfully claim, Democrat and
Republican, that they were the ones that came to me.
One other thing I want to mention. For the past 6 years, the Nation's
law enforcement officers and the representatives of their major
organizations have basically lived in my office. They have become my
friends. They have become people who I have learned to and come to know
well and expect whatever they say, that is it. I hope and think they
feel the same way about us.
I will miss them camping out in my conference room at 2 and 3 in the
morning. I will miss seeing them as much as I do. But I will not miss
the fact that we have to go through this again. And for the past 6
years, these law enforcement officers, representing the Nation's
500,000 police officers, sat in my office, around a conference table,
working late into the night to craft a crime bill that was so
desperately needed by America's front-line crime fighter.
I ask unanimous consent that the names of each of these law
enforcement organizations be printed in the Record, Mr. President.
There being no objection, the list was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).
National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO).
International Brotherhood of Police Officers (IBPO).
National Sheriffs' Association (NSA).
International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).
National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
(NOBLE).
National Trooper's Coalition.
Major Cities Chiefs.
International Union of Police Associations (IUPA).
Police Foundation.
Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).
Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA).
Mr. BIDEN. But, more important than the names of each of these
organizations, are the individuals who are able, creative, and talented
leaders of these organizations. Each of them represent their membership
with great distinction and dedication. And each of them has helped
deliver to the Nation's police officers more assistance, more life-
saving assistance, more support than any other piece of legislation I
can remember in my 22 years in the U.S. Senate.
Indeed, in the past 10 months, these individuals, representing the
Nation's police, have helped bring unprecedented change to the
country--passing the Brady bill into law, which is now law tonight;
passing the assault weapons ban, and passing a fully-funded crime bill
which will add 100,000 police to the ranks, build 125,000 more prison
cells, and extend a helping hand to literally millions of America's
children throughout this Nation through such proven programs as Police
Athletic Leagues, Boys and Girls Clubs and many other projects.
I have said on the floor, and I meant it sincerely, in the heat of
the debate, these are the women and men who suggested to me and others
the prevention programs that should be placed in there. And I have
great respect for social workers. We should be doing more in that area.
But they did not come from a group of social workers coming in and
sitting down with me. They came from a bunch of hard-nosed cops who
know the street, know the problems, coming in and setting down and
saying, ``Joe, this is what we have to do.''
So, I thank them because they know better than we do, than I do
anyway, what the needs are. And I think it is, if not rare, at least
rare in what I have worked on over the years, that we actually ask the
people most affected and say, ``What do you need?'' And they told us.
And the overwhelming majority of the U.S. Senate and the House of
Representatives voted to give them what they believe they needed
tonight.
Now, individuals in this group include--and I have to say, you know,
they are all equals--but the first among equals has been, in my view, a
guy named Bob Scully. Bob Scully has been a stand-up guy. Every time we
have had a problem, he stood there and he has taken heat. And he has
been willing to stand up.
But others have been equally as involved in the entire process. Tom
Scotto, Ken Lyons, Chris Sullivan, Richard Boyd, Steven Brown, Dewey
Stokes; ``Bud'' Meeks, who I have spent an awful lot of time with;
Melinda Lund, Jim Rhinebarger; Johnny Hughes, of the troopers;
Sylvester Doughtry.
What is Mark's last name? For years I have been talking to Mark. It
is amazing. I have known Mark for so long--and I do not know whether
you all have this problem--I have known him for many years and called
him Mark but did not realize his last name was Spurrier.
Dan Rosenbalt, Ira Harris, Dick O'Byski, John Pitta, Don Cahill, and
many, many others.
I count each of these individuals--many of whom are, as we would say
in campaigns, card-carrying Republicans--as my friends. And, quite
frankly, we could not have delivered such a sweeping crime bill to the
American people without their help.
I thank all of them for their timeless effort and I hope that our
collective efforts, of the police and my staff and others in this body
who have spent so long trying to put this together--I sincerely hope
that what we have done is a good thing for the American people. I
sincerely believe what we have done is a good thing for the American
people.
But the beauty of this is, if in fact we find 2 years down the road
that a particular program is not working the way we intended it to
work, this is a trust fund. For 6 years, we have made this commitment.
The chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Byrd, has pointed
out if a particular program is not working, through the appropriations
process, we can change it.
The important thing tonight is we have made a commitment to the
American people and the law enforcement community of this Nation that
we were going to, as a Federal legislative body in the Federal
Government, provide what they asked for--a $30 billion 6-year
commitment to put police and prisons and prevention programs back in
the cities, none of which was controlled by the Federal Government. The
only piece of this entire bill controlled directly by the Federal
Government is the money for Federal prosecutors and Federal law
enforcement officers, and money for drug treatment in Federal prisons--
an important part, but not the main part of this bill.
So it is my sincere hope, and my even more sincere belief, if that is
possible, that we did a good thing tonight; that we did a good thing
for the American people. One of my colleagues--and I will conclude with
this statement--said to me, ``Joe, what do you think about putting up
with''--and he was not talking about my colleagues, just putting up
with, and I do not view it as ``putting up''--but ``putting up with
being in public life? Is it worth it?''
I said, ``These are the nights it is worth it.'' It is worth it
tonight, because whether I am right or wrong, and only time will tell,
I truly believe with all my heart we did something good. As a friend of
mine would say, ``We did something serious good'' for the American
people tonight. I hope that proves to be true.
I thank everyone for their cooperation and their indulgence. I know
we have gone a long time, and I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Levin). The Senator from Kentucky [Mr.
Ford] is recognized.
Mr. FORD. Mr. President, just one comment or two. I think the words
have been spoken tonight: ``Sincere,'' ``effort,'' ``dedicated'' and
``good support.'' I think the American people will be much better off
when we see the result of the long labor--you might say a labor of
love, but I do not think I could categorize it that way--but it is has
been a labor of interest and sincere desire to make life a little
better, not necessarily for ourselves but for our children and the
future. That is what it is all about.
____________________