[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 118 (Wednesday, September 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10113-S10114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE PROPOSED UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT FOR REPUBLICAN JUVENILE CRIME 
                              BILL, S. 10

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, last Thursday, after Senators had been 
informed that there would be no more votes that day and after I had 
already headed for home to Vermont, Republicans came to the floor to 
propose a narrow procedural device in connection with the Republican 
juvenile crime bill, S.10.
  No one had advised me that the Senate Republican leadership planned 
to proceed to S.10 on Thursday. After a year of inaction on this bill--
which was voted on by the Judiciary Committee in July 1997--the 
Republicans did not even seek a response to their proposal. Instead, 
they rushed to the floor in ambush fashion.
  The failure of this Congress to take up and pass responsible juvenile 
crime legislation does not rest with the Democrats, and no procedural 
floor gimmick by the Republican majority can change that fact.
  Over the past year, I have spoken on the floor of the Senate and at 
hearings on several occasions about my concerns with this legislation. 
At the same time, I have expressed my willingness to work with the 
Chairman in a bipartisan manner to improve this juvenile crime bill.
  I am not alone in my criticisms and in wanting to see changes in this 
bill. It has been blasted by virtually every major newspaper in the 
United States. The Philadelphia Inquirer concluded that the bill ``is 
fatally flawed and should be rejected.'' The Los Angeles Times 
described the bill as ``peppered with ridiculous poses and penalties'' 
and as taking a ``rigid, counterproductive approach'' to juvenile crime 
prevention. The St. Petersburg Times called the bill ``an amalgam of 
bad and dangerous ideas.''
  The bill has also been criticized by national leaders ranging from 
Chief Justice Rehnquist to Marian Wright Edelman, President of the 
Children's Defense Fund.
  In May, the Chief Justice criticized S.10 because it would 
``eviscerate this traditional deference to state prosecutions, thereby 
increasing substantially the potential workload of the federal 
judiciary.'' Earlier in the year, the Chief Justice raised concerns 
about ``federalizing'' certain juvenile crimes, noting that ``federal 
prosecutions should be limited to those offenses that cannot and should 
not be prosecuted in the state courts.''
  The National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) and other law 
enforcement agencies have also written me with their concerns about 
this bill. In May, William Murphy, President of the NDAA, expressed 
NDAA's serious concerns about parts of S.10, including the fact that 
``S.10 goes too far'' in changing the ``core mandates'' which have kept 
juveniles safer and away from adults while in jail for over 25 years. 
Mr. Murphy also criticized S.10's new juvenile record keeping 
requirements as ``burdensome and contrary to most state laws.'' He 
further noted that S.10 failed to provide ``any lee way to give 
juveniles a second chance by providing for the option to seal or 
expunge records.''
  I have also heard from numerous State and local officials across the 
U.S., including the National Governors' Association, the Council of 
State Governments (Eastern Regional Conference), the U.S. Conference of 
Mayors, the National Association of Counties and the National 
Conference of State Legislatures. All of them have expressed concerns 
about the restrictions this bill would place on their ability to combat 
and prevent juvenile crime effectively. Last June, the President of the 
National Conference of State Legislatures cautioned that the new 
mandates placed on the States by S.10 could ``imbalance the 
constitutionally designed relationship between the federal government 
and the states.''
  He further noted that ``[s]tates handle crime in a more flexible and 
more responsive manner than the federal government'' and urged the 
Senate not to impose a single ``federal `fix' upon all fifty states and 
the territories.''
  In short, S.10 as reported by the Judiciary Committee is a bill laden 
with problems--so much so that, at last count, the bill has lost a 
quarter of its Republican cosponsors since introduction.
  The unanimous consent agreement proposed by the Republicans would 
limit debate of juvenile justice and other crime matters. Ironically, 
it would permit the Republicans to offer a substitute to their own 
bill, but not allow Democrats the same opportunity. The only additional 
amendments in order under their plan would be five on each side.
  When the Judiciary Committee Chairman indicated on the floor that the 
minority has had the text of the proposed Hatch-Sessions substitute for 
``well over a month,'' he was incorrect. In fact, we only got a copy of 
the substitute on the same day that the Republicans proposed their 
unanimous

[[Page S10114]]

consent agreement and had not had an opportunity to review it.
  While I appreciate that we are short of time in this Congress and 
that, consequently, the Republican leadership would like to limit the 
number of amendments the Democrats may offer, I must point out that the 
Hatch-Sessions substitute alone contains substantial changes to over 
160 separate paragraphs of this reported bill.
  While I do not believe that Democrats will have close to 160 
additional amendments to the bill, I believe that we will want to offer 
more than five.
  We are continuing to pare down the amendments that Democrats plan to 
offer to S.10 to address the substantial criticisms leveled at this 
bill. We are continuing to negotiate in good faith on a unanimous 
consent agreement to ensure that Senate consideration of this 
legislation is fair, full and productive. The attempted ambush at the 
outset of this process, however, suggests that the Republican 
leadership is more interested in placing blame for its inaction than in 
actually moving to consideration of the bill.

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