[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 69 (Thursday, May 16, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5142-S5143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE FIGHT ON DRUGS

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, let me say, Mr. President, that it always 
saddens me when the floor of the U.S. Senate is turned into a place to 
debate issues regarding the Presidential race. I think it is very 
important that when things are stated on the floor that are not true, 
we have an opportunity to respond. I thank the chairman of the Budget 
Committee for giving me that opportunity.
  There is a lot of talk around here about the failure of this 
President to crack down on the issue of drug enforcement. I want to set 
the record straight. Federal drug prosecutions are up 13 percent from 
1994. Federal prosecutors achieved an 84 percent conviction rate in all 
drug cases in 1995. So we are beginning to see a change. During the 
past 3 years, there has been a 9.4 percent increase in prosecutions of 
the toughest, most complex drug cases. There are now about 48,000 
convicted

[[Page S5143]]

drug dealers in Federal prisons, three-fifths of the total Federal 
inmate population, and the highest number in history.
  There has been a drug-testing initiative. The President ordered 
Federal prosecutors to seek drug testing of all people arrested on 
Federal criminal charges, and is seeking $42 million to fund this 
initiative in 1997. These tests will help Federal judges determine 
whether a defendant should be granted bail.
  The Justice Department has funded 65 grants, totaling $8.5 million to 
help communities establish and expand drug courts that help break the 
cycle of drugs and crime. The 1994 Crime Act authorized $1 billion 
through the year 2000 to support State and local drug courts.
  So, Mr. President, people can come down here and make speeches about 
our President. But at least have the facts. I think this President, and 
every President, is entitled to the facts. Who is the President that 
came up with the idea of putting 100,000 cops on the beat? It was this 
President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton, who came up 
with the idea that we need more cops on the beat, because it is 
prevention to have cops on the beat, it is prevention to have community 
policing. It is the other side of the aisle that wants to rescind that 
law providing 100,000 cops on the beat and replace it with a block 
grant, and who knows where the money will go. We want cops on the beat. 
We are on our way to getting it done. Which President signed the 
Violence Against Women Act? I am so proud of that because I worked with 
Senator Joe Biden on it for 5 long years. It was this President. And we 
are going after violence in domestic situations. We are going after the 
crime of rape. We are working toward making streets safer. Do we have a 
long way to go? Of course, we do. This is complicated.

  Clearly, if we can get drugs out of society, there will be a decrease 
in crime. We know there is a definite correlation here. We have a 
President who understands we need enforcement and understands we need 
very good people to prosecute these cases. We have a President who has 
cracked down on the border. I come from California, and we are seeing 
an entirely different situation down there, with large increases in the 
Border Patrol, and with the U.S. attorney who has just done wonders 
with the conviction rate of second-time criminal aliens coming back 
into this country from Mexico. He has prosecuted more of them in 1 year 
than the previous 5 years altogether.

  So when we come down to this floor and we start to use it as a debate 
over the Presidential race, I wish we would not do it. But if we do it, 
let us be honorable about it. Let us be factual about it. This is the 
President who fought so hard to take prevention, effective prosecution, 
enforcement, interdiction--take all of those aspects of fighting drugs 
and putting them into one policy, getting through an effective crime 
bill, and making sure that in fact we are waging an effective war on 
drugs. This is the President who understands this issue.
  So I want to thank my chairman of the Budget Committee for giving me 
this opportunity to put into the Record what the record truly is. And 
the fact of the matter is since I have been here all I have heard from 
many on the other side is a desire to repeal the crime bill, repeal the 
ban on assault weapons which are used by gangs, repeal the Brady bill 
which has kept weapons out of the hands of 67,000 people who have had 
mental health problems in the past. We do not want those people getting 
guns.
  I appreciate this opportunity to correct the record.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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