[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 12 (Friday, January 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     LET US STRESS CRIME PREVENTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, the one thing that the Thirteen 
Colonies knew was that we were all in this together. One of the things 
that my constituents in the 18th Congressional District of Texas have 
asked is that I would come to this office and deliberate, cooperate, 
and consider the concerns of the Nation, but most of all represent 
them.
  I hope that we will have an opportunity to deliberate and consider as 
we look toward H.R. 3, the take-back-your-streets bill that offers to 
the American people the suggestion of going forward, but actually it 
takes us back.
  The 1994 bipartisan crime bill spoke to all of the people of America. 
It provided dollars for law enforcement, some $13 billion, it answered 
the questions for overcrowded prisons by providing for $9.8 billion 
and, yes, for the first time historically we committed to prevention. 
We recognized that we are in this together--hamlets and towns and 
cities and counties and States.
  Rennie Click, the chief of police of Dallas, TX, recognized it when 
he testified how extensively he supports law enforcement, support of 
police but he realizes how important it is to address the social needs 
of those who perpetrate crime. And at the same time the chief of police 
from the city of Houston, Chief Nuchia, indicated that he is a strong 
advocate of law and order, like all of us, like I am, and he believed 
that we must protect ourselves like I had to do as a council member 
working with local law enforcement, as a former judge. But he was 
convinced that we could not arrest ourselves out of this situation. It 
was his belief that adequately funded community-based programs are an 
important component of the American goal of achieving a healthier, 
safer society.
  What is wrong with prevention? What is wrong with supporting boys 
clubs and girls clubs? What is wrong with acknowledging the importance 
of in-school and after-school programs, acknowledging that there are 
latch-key children who are subject to abuse and or subject to 
inspiration by others that would not follow the way of law-abiding 
citizens?
  One of our witnesses indicated that most people
   living in our communities are law-abiding and work every day to help 
assist the community to stay on a straight-and-narrow track. But yet, 
now we have a bill that wants to take away the prevention dollars, when 
a bipartisan Congress put together a package that talks about cops on 
the streets. No more in this new bill. It talked about prisons, it 
talked about prevention. No more in this new crime bill.

  It is interesting that we would all support prenatal care, 
immunization, which has helped our children and helped this Nation be a 
healthier nation. We even joined Nancy Reagan and said, ``Just say no 
to drugs'' and there are so many youngsters who can talk about that, 
but live it every day because the message was pounded in. And how many 
of us grew up with Smoky Bear? ``Only you can prevent forest fires,'' 
so we know what not to do in our Nation's precious forests.
  But yet do we treat crime differently? We do not want to prevent? We 
throw the baby out with the bathwater.
  I simply ask the Nation to deliberate and consider that we are all in 
this together, that we are all crimefighters. But if we are going to go 
into the 21st century, we must focus on the prevention to be able to 
make this community, for police officers and sheriffs and constables 
and citizens and children and the elderly and all the towns and hamlets 
and counties and States and yes, our cities, to make them a safer 
place, we must have prevention. We must continue to go forward.
  Let us go forward and enhance what we are doing. Reaffirm the omnibus 
crime bill of 1994. Let us have prevention.


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