[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 80 (Monday, June 11, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S6052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      EXECUTION OF TIMOTHY McVEIGH

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, on this day, my thoughts are with the 
victims of Timothy McVeigh, and with their families. I hope that the 
spectacle of these last few weeks, leading to this execution, has not 
caused them further pain. McVeigh was cowardly and cruel, and I shall 
not dwell upon his memory or indulge his desire to be seen as a martyr. 
I rise today to speak on his execution not because I wish to add to the 
burdens of this day, but because I do not want it said that those of us 
who oppose the death penalty stood silently by.
  Today, the question we need to ask is not: Was McVeigh a despicable 
killer, of course he was.
  Rather, the questions we should ask are these: Does the death penalty 
serve us and our best American ideals, does it always serve justice, is 
it administered fairly, is it sometimes imposed upon people who are 
innocent.
  The records will note that the cause of McVeigh's death was homicide, 
the intentional killing of one human being by another. The execution of 
even this most notorious murderer should prompt us anew to reconsider 
the idea of our government killing people in our name, and perhaps to 
begin to acknowledge the growing American belief that the time has come 
to stop and learn the answers to the questions that plague the death 
penalty, before we proceed with any further executions.
  We have an opportunity to turn another way on the death penalty. The 
next scheduled federal execution is that of Juan Raul Garza. His 
execution has been stayed until June 19 in light of the questions 
raised about regional and racial disparities in the federal death 
penalty system.
  But the Justice Department now has declared that it will not wait 
until those questions are answered by an ongoing National Institute of 
Justice study before proceeding with his execution. They have gone so 
far as to declare that there is no bias in the system, even though the 
study has not come close to completion. Until we are certain of the 
fairness of the process and these questions are resolved, Garza should 
not be executed in our name. That's the real and difficult test that 
President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft must face in the next few 
days. On this day, I hope that they will turn to it in earnest.

                          ____________________