[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 127 (Monday, September 16, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10578-S10579]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CRIME IN AMERICA
Mr. COVERDELL. I thank the Senator from Michigan. Again, as I said
when he came to the floor, he has been very dutiful on this issue and I
am comfortable will ultimately prevail.
Mr. President, a moment ago I was talking about this drug epidemic.
There can be no doubt but that we had a change in policies that
occurred when this administration took office. And we have had a
resulting change in behavior. If you start shutting the drug war down,
I think you can expect to see a reversal and we will find more and more
young people caught up in this tragic problem and then society caught
up in their problems.
This administration has, as we just heard, vulnerability and
accountability that it has to accept with regard to the condition of
crime in the country today. This administration has touted signing the
assault weapon ban and Brady bill as evidence that they got tough on
guns. This has been the effect: Federal gun prosecutions are down 20
percent. Federal gun convictions are down 13 percent. The U.S.
attorneys' program to target gun crimes and to report on gun
prosecutions, Operation Triggerlock, which the Senator from Mississippi
talked about a moment ago, has been dismantled--gone. Congress
authorized $200 million for States to help with background checks under
the Brady bill. Clinton's budget request has cut that figure by 68
percent. ``It is fine to pass the bill, but do not fund it.''
This administration claims to have put 100,000-plus cops on the
streets. Myself and Senator Biden, the Senator from Delaware, debated
that number a couple of months ago. The data is actually this: The
Justice Department says the number is actually more like 17,000. Now,
17,000 is a long way from 100,000. It is questionable whether 17,000
have ended up there as well. In Florida, 30 of this 17,000--not 100,000
but 17,000. In the ads we hear 100,000, but in reality it is more like
17,000. Here is where some of the 17,000 are: They were added to the
State Department of Environmental Protection to keep watch over a coral
sanctuary off the Florida Keys. The cost of that was $3.5 million.
Florida received $1.8 million to hire 25 cops for State parks. At the
same time, Florida received $3.5 million to watch a coral reef. This
Justice Department rejected a request from the St. Augustine police
department, in northern Florida, to fund a 1-year anti-domestic
violence program. That would have cost $80,000, to hire this officer.
In other words, we do not have 100,000, we have 17,000; and of the
17,000 we have, we have them watching a coral reef off the Florida Keys
but denying the ability to set up an antidomestic violence program.
This is almost as baffling as some of the statistics that we heard from
the Senator from Michigan.
The Justice Department admits that, of that number, as many as 14,000
were already on the streets and are now just paid for with Federal tax
dollars. Mr. President, 20 percent of the 100,000 may be officers who
are redeployed. So the early money has gone to existing police
officers. In reality, only about 3,000 new cops have been added. That
is a long way from the 100,000 to 3,000.
Mr. President, we have been joined by the senior Senator from
Oklahoma, the assistant majority leader. He is a strong proponent of
crime measures that work. I yield up to 8 minutes to the Senator from
Oklahoma.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, first, I would like to compliment the
Senator from Georgia for his leadership on calling to our attention
both Senator Dole's initiative to combat crime, which I think has some
outstanding points that need to be brought to the public attention and
public debate, and also some of the shortcomings we have witnessed
through action or inaction from the Clinton administration for the last
3\1/2\ years.
First and foremost in the effort to combat crime, I think we have to
combat the rapid rise in drug use amongst teenagers. Teenagers are our
country's future, and it is very, very sad indeed to see that drug use
amongst teenagers in the last 3\1/2\ years has more than doubled. That
is a frightening statistic. It may be one of the most frightening
statistics we could think of. Some of us are parents. I happen to have
four kids. To think that drug use has more than doubled in just 3\1/2\
years should cause everybody, Democrat, Republican, independent, real
cause for concern.
You might say why? Some people point a finger at President Clinton. I
think he shares some of the blame. I remember very well Nancy Reagan
and her effort to say, ``Just say no to drugs.'' Try to convince young
people to, ``Just say no. Do not mess with them, do not experiment with
them, you are on thin ice, you are asking for trouble and you can start
down the road beginning with marijuana and maybe ending up with more
serious drugs, cocaine, crack and others, that can destroy your life.''
Some people have ridiculed Nancy Reagan's statement. But as a result
of her efforts and those continued by President and Mrs. Bush, drug use
continued to decline throughout their administrations. We had a 10-year
decline in drug use among young people; and basically among all age
groups, drug use declined.
Unfortunately, in the last 3\1/2\ years drug use among teenagers more
than doubled. And what kind of leadership did we have from the White
House? We had President Clinton making light of the fact that he had
broken our drug laws. He said he did not break the drug laws, he said
he never inhaled, not in this country, that was in England and, ``No, I
never inhaled.'' Then last year, on a nationally televised show, I
think it was MTV, when he was asked the question by a youngster,
``Would you inhale if you had a chance to do that again?'' he said yes.
What kind of example is that? What kind of leadership is that? That is
a frivolous attitude, as if it does not really make any difference.
That kind of cavalier attitude, I think, tells a lot of people, maybe
it is OK to use drugs or try drugs; President Clinton tried drugs.
Then you see in the President's own administration, several people
could not get White House clearance through the FBI because they had
recent drug use. Not 10 years ago, not 20 years ago when they were in
their early twenties or something, but recent drug use. Mr. Aldrich's
book indicated that there was drug use even possibly on Inaugural
[[Page S10579]]
Day. Yet, some of those people are serving in the White House today. I
believe it is acknowledged by the White House, 21 current employees,
top-level officials in the White House are currently undergoing a drug
program, a drug rehab program and surveillance.
What kind of example is that? What kind of leadership is that? And
what about some of the appointments that President Clinton has made?
I remember we had a big battle over Dr. Joycelyn Elders to be Surgeon
General. A lot of us, mostly Republicans, said, no, she would not be
the proper person to be the Surgeon General, to be the No. 1 health
officer appointed by the President, to be the person in the bully
pulpit, because she had views that were more than liberal, they were
off the radar screen to the left.
Many of us opposed her nomination, but she was confirmed. We opposed
her nomination because she made a lot of statements that we felt should
not be made by the Surgeon General.
After Dr. Elders was appointed, it wasn't too long before she said
something about, ``Well, maybe we should legalize drugs, maybe we
should study legalizing drugs.'' Did President Clinton fire her for
that statement? No. I think I heard somebody say, ``Well, the President
doesn't agree with her on that issue.''
It wasn't a month later and she said the same thing, I think before
the National Press Club. She thought maybe we should consider
legalizing drugs. Was she fired for making it a second time? The answer
is no. She was fired later for making some other comments that were,
again, very irresponsible in what we should be teaching our kids in
school, but the point being is he didn't fire her. She made several
comments about legalizing drugs, and she was still the Surgeon General,
she was still President Clinton's appointee to a very important
prestigious position. Again, he was aware of her background, he was
aware of her philosophy, and yet that was his recommendation to the
country for that position.
My point being, the war on drugs needs to be fought. It was fought
under Ronald Reagan, it was fought under George Bush, and, basically,
it was abandoned under the Clinton administration. The net result is,
we have a lot of young people today who are experimenting with drugs,
thinking, ``Well, maybe it's OK.'' So we see drug use way up, we see
the number of young people who will be addicts, who will see their
lives ruined, we will see those numbers go up as well.
So we need to fight the war on crime, we need to fight the war on
drugs, but, unfortunately, this administration has been AWOL on both.
Mr. President, I regret to say that, I hate to say that.
Mr. President, I am going to make a couple more comments. I looked at
Senator Dole's announcement. He said he had a stated goal that he wants
to reduce drug use by 50 percent during his first term. It can be done.
It was done under Reagan and Bush. It can be done again. You see the
current upsurge in drug use due to a very cavalier attitude by this
administration, the current administration, on the war on drugs. It
will be nice to have a change in the White House and have an individual
and a team that is very committed, that is very dedicated, very sincere
in saying, ``We want to let everyone know that drugs are hazardous to
your health.''
I find it interesting to see that President Clinton is attacking
tobacco and has been silent about other drugs, such as crack and
cocaine, marijuana use. I almost think that he made the announcement on
tobacco maybe to kind of get this release of information talking about
drug use doubling under his term off the front pages. I don't know.
Mr. President, this war has to be fought. We need energetic
leadership coming from the White House. I believe we will have that
from Senator Dole and his team.
Also, I want to comment on the interdiction efforts. I remember
shortly after President Clinton took office, he cut the office of the
drug czar by 83 percent. He reduced it from, I believe, 140 employees
to 15, and cut the funding way back. That tells you something about his
priorities.
Senator Dole said, if elected, he would reestablish the drug czar
office. He would redouble and rekindle our efforts on drug interdiction
so we can stop drugs before they come into the United States. He said
he would increase penalties on those people who have been involved in
drug trafficking, particularly amongst people who have been involved in
drug trafficking to our young people.
So, Mr. President, it is vitally important that we have a leader who
will make change, and make change appropriately, to protect our kids
for the future.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. COVERDELL addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, our control of time is nearing an end,
but I would like to just draw a contrast here.
The former majority leader has embraced a very focused attack on
crime in our country, and he begins--and I think it is appropriate--
with the first pledge to cut teen drug use in half. I can't think of a
grander thing to achieve that would do more good, reduce pain and
anxiety and trouble in millions of American families.
Sometimes these numbers get out of whack. We are talking about a
sister, a brother, somebody in the neighborhood, and we are talking
about 2 million of them who are now experimenting with drugs who did
not 3 years ago. That is a city the size of my hometown, Atlanta, GA--
every person in it. Every one of those is a family and is in a personal
crisis. So by focusing that as No. 1 is right on target.
No. 2, an end to revolving-door-justice, which Americans have been so
concerned about. One in every three persons arrested for a violent
crime is on parole. Sometimes people say, ``Well, it costs too much to
keep them in prison, $25,000, $30,000 a year.'' It costs $450,000 for
them to be out of prison, in property damage and personal damage.
No. 3, holding violent juveniles accountable for their actions. We
all know we have a juvenile crime wave and it is tied to the drug wave.
No. 4, making prisoners work. Only one-third of the prisoners work
full time. We heard the Senator from Michigan addressing that.
No. 5, keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.
On target, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Conversely, this administration suffers from a lack of commitment in
this arena. Shortly after arriving at her job, Attorney General Janet
Reno repealed the Department of Justice policy requiring prosecutors to
seek the most serious criminal charge they could prove in court. We all
heard from the Senator from Oklahoma about the former Surgeon General
suggesting that maybe we should legalize drugs and the effect that has
had, with children no longer thinking that drugs are serious.
This administration's chief prosecutor in San Diego has released
hundreds of captured drug smugglers and sent them back to Mexico
without prosecuting. This administration's prosecutors across the
country have cut back prosecutions of felons for possessing guns by 13
percent and have reduced prosecution for crimes involving guns 20 to 25
percent.
Many of this administration's judges have embraced the criminal as a
victim-of-society philosophy. The Senator from Montana talked about
that earlier this afternoon and how wrong that is. We heard the
statistics of getting these people back out on the street and the price
society pays when we do that.
His appointees to the Supreme Court have been among the most willing
to use technicalities to overturn death sentences for brutal murders.
The list goes on, Mr. President. Here we have a focused, energetic,
committed Senator Dole targeting crime as a No. 1 issue in America and
going after it, and over here we have a record of conciliation and a
drug war and a drug epidemic.
We need to do this not only for the stability of our country, but for
the compassion of our children.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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