[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 144 (Thursday, October 21, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S13009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        COMMERCE-JUSTICE-STATE APPROPRIATIONS CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. JEFFORDS, I rise today to express my profound disappointment that 
the Conference Report to the Fiscal Year 2000 Commerce, Justice, State 
and the Judiciary Appropriations bill removed language that was in the 
Senate passed bill to expand Federal jurisdiction in investigating hate 
crimes.
  The language inserted in the Senate passed bill would expand Federal 
jurisdiction in investigating hate crimes by removing the requirement 
in Federal hate crime law that only allows federal prosecution if the 
perpetrator is interfering with a victim's federally protected right 
like voting or attending school. It would also extend the protection of 
current hate crime law to those who are victimized because of their 
gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
  Any crime hurts our society, but crimes motivated by hate are 
especially harmful. Many states, including my state of Vermont, have 
already passed strong hate crimes laws, and I applaud them in this 
endeavor. An important principle of the amendment that was in the 
Senate-passed bill was that it allowed for Federal prosecution of hate 
crimes without impeding the rights of states to prosecute these crimes.
  The adoption of this amendment by the Senate was an important step 
forward in ensuring that the perpetrators of these harmful crimes are 
brought to justice. The American public knows that Congress should pass 
this legislation, and it is unfortunate that the conferees did not 
retain this important language.
  Congress should pass this legislation, and I will work to ensure that 
this legislation is enacted into law in the very near future.

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