[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 31, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H9384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  WE MUST NOT LEAVE FOR AUGUST RECESS WITHOUT PROVIDING ANTITERRORISM 
                              LEGISLATION

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I was in Atlanta this past weekend, and I 
felt the aftershocks of the pipe bomb explosion in Centennial Park. The 
true spirit of the games, the athletes, and the spectators shone 
through, and everyone agreed that the games must go on and that we 
should not bow to hostile acts of terror; but people also felt equally 
strongly that Congress must act to prevent this violence.
  The American people do not feel safe, and part of that is because we 
are good at catching criminals after the fact, but we are not good at 
preventing them from acting.
  The American people want the Government to have the tools that it 
needs to prevent these bombings. President Clinton has asked the 
Congress this week to act on much-needed antiterrorism proposals like 
putting tracers in explosives, in gunpowder, a tool that is needed to 
be able to prevent acts of terror; but the NRA is opposed to these 
tracers. Their opposition is wrong.
  We cannot in good faith leave for the August recess without passing 
legislation that will give the Federal Government the tools that it 
needs to stop terrorism in this country. We need and we must act in 
good faith. We must leave in August and provide people with the peace 
of mind that they need so that we can keep this country free of 
terrorism.

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