[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 104 (Friday, June 23, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9009-S9010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE WAR ON CRIME

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, in just over a week, Americans will 
celebrate Independence Day. But as we pay tribute to our heritage and 
our freedom; and as we remember what is right with America, we must 
also rededicate ourselves to fixing what is wrong.
  And one thing that is most definitely wrong is that millions of 
Americans still live in fear of crime. Last fall, Republicans promised 
Americans that if they gave us a majority in Congress, we would do all 
in our power to bring an end to crime without punishment.
  I have asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch to be ready to 
bring to the floor a crime bill sometime after the Fourth of July 
recess.
  To his credit, President Clinton has spoken frequently and eloquently 
about the need to combat crime and drugs. But, as an important article 
in June 19th's Investor Business Daily makes clear, the President seems 
to believe that rhetoric--and not resources--will win the fight against 
crime.
  As the article states, President Clinton has repeatedly sought to 
reduce funding and personnel from the FBI, the DEA, and U.S. attorney's 
offices.
  The effect of this withdrawal of resources can most clearly be seen 
in the war against drugs.
  In 1992, 347 new DEA special agents underwent training. In President 
Clinton's first year in office, that number fell to zero. And his 1995 
budget proposal forecast training no new agents in either 1994 or 1995. 
Under the President's proposals, total DEA personnel is slated to fall 
by nearly 800--from 6,149 in 1993 to 5,388 in 1995.
  As a result, DEA arrests have decreased dramatically--from more than 
7,800 in the last year of the Bush administration, to 5,279 in 1994. In 
those same years, Federal narcotics prosecutions have fallen by 25 
percent.
  All this is taking place at a time when surveys show that drug use 
among adolescents has climbed in the last 2 years.
  President Clinton has also spoken eloquently about guns. Yet, as 
Investors Business Daily details, the number of Federal prosecutions 
for firearms-related violations has fallen by 20 percent in the last 2 
years.
  Mr. President, I believe these numbers are very disturbing, and they 
will be analyzed more closely during the crime bill debate.
  Talking tough is one thing. But getting tough is another. And Senator 
Hatch and I share a commitment to passing legislation that will give 
our law enforcement community the resources they need to stop the tidal 
wave of crime and drugs that has washed over so many of our 
communities.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the article by John 
Barnes in June 19th's Investor's Business Daily be printed in the 
Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

[[Page S9010]]



            [From Investor's Business Daily, June 19, 1995]

                     Clinton's Real Record on Crime

                          (By John A. Barnes)

       President Clinton's high-profile demand for an anti-
     terrorism bill has no doubt beefed up his image as ``tough on 
     crime.''
       Indeed, he has made co-opting the crime issue--
     traditionally a Republican preserve--a high priority for his 
     administration and his party.
       To that end, he pushed hard to pass last year's widely 
     attacked crime bill, which the president bragged would add 
     100,000 new police officers to the streets. (The law is being 
     rewritten by the new Republican Congress.)
       But Clinton's ``tough on crime'' posturing has not been 
     backed up by money for federal law enforcement since he took 
     office.
       In listing his priorities for funding, he repeatedly has 
     sought to withdraw resources from the sharp end of federal 
     law enforcement--the FBI, the DEA, U.S. attorneys' offices--
     while transferring funds to such areas as antitrust law, 
     child abuse and civil rights.
       For instance, 320 new FBI agents were trained in 1992 at 
     the FBI's Academy, the last full year of the Bush 
     administration. But not a single new agent graduated from the 
     academy in 1993.
       And Clinton asked for no new funding for new agents in his 
     fiscal 1995 budget either, the first one for which he had a 
     full year to prepare. Congress has approved around 600 new 
     agents for this year.
       In that same fiscal 1995 budget, Clinton forecast dropping 
     the number of full-time equivalent FBI positions by 854, from 
     21,568 in 1993 to 20,714 by 1995, including a reduction of 
     436 special agents. The 1994 number was 21,034.
       The argument could be made, of course, that with the 
     winding down of the Cold War, the FBI no longer needs as many 
     agents to fight domestic spying as it once did. And several 
     hundred agents have been transferred from such work to more 
     conventional law enforcement duties.
       One would think that moving agents from espionage work to 
     fighting more conventional street crime, however, would mean 
     an increase in mid-career retraining. But that doesn't appear 
     to be the case.
       The number of agents receiving such training at the FBI 
     academy has fallen sharply, from 14,741 in 1992 to 2,677 in 
     1994. The number of state and local police officers receiving 
     training at the academy has likewise seen a sharp drop, from 
     7,395 in 1992 to 3,710 in 1994.
       The Cold War may be over, but the war on drugs has not let 
     up, and the cuts have been felt just as keenly at the Drug 
     Enforcement Administration as at the FBI.
       In 1992, 347 new DEA special agents underwent training. 
     Like the FBI, that number fell to zero in 1993. The Clinton 
     administration's fiscal 1995 budget forecast training no new 
     DEA agents in 1994 or 1995 either.
       The number of special agents fell by 123 between 1992 and 
     1994 and total DEA personnel was slated under the Clinton 
     budget to fall from 6,149 in 1993 to 5,388 in 1995. The 
     number in 1994 was 5,450.
       DEA arrests fell from 7,878 in the last full year under 
     Bush to 5,279 in 1994. Drug-related arrests made in 
     cooperation with overseas law enforcement fell from 1,856 in 
     1992 to 1,522 in 1994.
       Clandestine drug labs seized by specially trained DEA teams 
     fell from 335 in 1992 to 272 in 1994.
       Laboratory exhibits analyzed by DEA lab technicians in 1994 
     totaled 37,667, down from 41,225 two years earlier.
       Forensic chemists trained by the DEA fell from 20 in 1992 
     to zero in 1994.
       ``Diversion'' specialists--who investigate the diversion of 
     prescription drugs from the licit to the illicit market--
     undergoing training fell from 40 in 1992 to none in 1994.
       New DEA intelligence specialists, 140 of whom were trained 
     in 1992, dropped to exactly zero in 1994.
       The Interagency Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task 
     Forces have seen their budgets stagnate, meaning they have 
     been reduced in real terms after inflation has been taken 
     into account. Total spending on these task forces was $390.3 
     million in 1992. That outlay dropped to $387.4 million in 
     1993 and then to $385.2 million in 1994.


                         dropping prosecutions

       Not surprisingly, given this withdrawal of resources, 
     narcotics prosecutions have fallen 25% in just those two 
     years, from 6,936 to 5,177.
       And all this is taking place at a time when the University 
     of Michigan's 1994 High School Drug Survey shows that drug 
     use among adolescents has climbed in the last two years, 
     coming after the end of the Reagan-Bush era's ``Just Say No'' 
     campaign.
       Marijuana use has doubled among eighth-graders, jumped two-
     thirds among 10th graders and one-third among 12th graders.
       The Drug Abuse Warning Network of the National Institutes 
     of Health has reported that emergency room admissions for 
     cocaine-related emergencies rose 8% in 1993 and those for 
     heroin are up 31%.


                           anti-drug programs

       At the same time, the Justice Department's funding for 
     anti-drug-abuse programs has been cut back. From $497.5 
     million in the last year of the Bush administration, the 
     program was reduced to $474.5 million in 1994.
       ``There's no question they've de-emphasized drug 
     enforcement,'' said conservative legal analyst Bruce Fein. 
     ``I'm not sure if you could call the change dramatic, but it 
     is noticeable.''
       Despite all the publicity given the Bureau of Alcohol, 
     Tobacco and Firearms for its ill-fated raids in Waco, Texas, 
     and in Idaho, the number of federal prosecutions for 
     firearms-related violations has also fallen consistently 
     under Clinton. There were 3,917 such prosecutions in 1992, a 
     number that fell to 3,636 in 1993 and then 3,113 in 1994, a 
     20.5% fall.
       At the same time, Clinton has been adding to the number of 
     crimes on the federal statute books. In last year's crime 
     bill, for instance, the following became federal crimes for 
     the first time: murder by a federal prisoner or federal 
     prison escapee; drive-by shootings; murder of a state or 
     local police officer assisting in a federal investigation; 
     use of a weapon of ``mass destruction'' resulting in death.
       But it hasn't been all cutting at the Clinton Justice 
     Department. Some programs have received large increases in 
     funding and clearly have Clinton's approval.
       One is the antitrust division, presided over by Ann 
     Bingaman, wife of Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.
       In the fiscal 1995 budget, the president asked to have its 
     net outlays increased from $40.2 million to $50.8 million, a 
     better than 20% increase. The actual outlays, as is almost 
     always the case, turned out to be less than the requested 
     figure, $47.3 million.
       This division's major triumph recently was forcing 
     Microsoft Corp.--one of the country's most successful 
     companies--to give up its effort to merge with Intuit Inc., 
     the leading publisher of personal finance software.
       In addition, the unit announced it was looking into 
     Microsoft's planned on-line service for possible antitrust 
     problems.
       Appropriations for programs that help victims of child 
     abuse, a particular favorite of Attorney General Janet Reno, 
     more than tripled during the first two years under Clinton, 
     rising from barely $2 million in Bush's last year to $7.5 
     million in 1994.
       Interestingly, missing children--which was the alarm bell 
     issue of a decade ago--is apparently no longer ``hot.'' From 
     just over $10 million in 1993, the budget for this program 
     was cut back to $6.6 million a year later.
       Yet the budget for ``conflict resolution programs'' in the 
     department's Community Relations Service was increased from 
     $9.1 million in 1992 to $9.3 million a year later to $9.6 
     million in 1994.
       The Justice Department is also now responsible for 
     enforcing the Violence Against Women Act, which was a part of 
     the 1994 Clinton crime bill.
       The president's speech March 21 at the opening of the 
     department's new office to enforce the act reflects 
     Clinton's view of law enforcement well.
       The president reeled off a stream of statistics supposedly 
     showing that crime against women was soaring.
       The president claimed that rapes were increasing three 
     times faster than the overall crime rate. ``Domestic 
     violence,'' the president declared, was the ``No. 1 health 
     risk'' to women between the ages of 15 and 44, ``a bigger 
     threat than cancer or car accidents.''
       But his numbers do not accord with government data or 
     academic research in the area. Sociologists Dwayne Smith and 
     Ellen Kuchta, writing in Social Science Quarterly, concluded 
     there is no evidence that crimes against women are increasing 
     faster than the overall crime rate and that, if anything, the 
     rate seems to have decreased somewhat.
       The study that supposedly showed domestic violence to be 
     the ``No. 1 threat'' to young and middle-aged women was done 
     in a single hospital emergency room in a high-crime 
     neighborhood in inner-city Philadelphia. It counted street 
     crime victims as well as victims of domestic violence.


                          civil rights actions

       The civil rights unit of Justice has received a 20% 
     increase in funding under Clinton. Under Deval Patrick, the 
     unit has become one of the busiest and highest profile 
     agencies in government.
       Patrick has specialized in using threats of civil rights 
     lawsuits--and attendant bad publicity--to reach ``consent 
     decrees'' with banks to loan more money to blacks and other 
     minorities. This despite the fact that the proof of 
     intentional discrimination by such institutions is sketchy at 
     best.
       The administration has engaged in plenty of other 
     questionable law enforcement.
       The Housing and Urban Development Department, for instance, 
     has sought to bulldoze opposition to plans to place criminal 
     halfway houses and drug rehabilitation centers in middleclass 
     neighborhoods by threatening opponents with civil rights 
     violations.

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