[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 70 (Monday, June 3, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4883-S4884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Supplemental Appropriations Act for 
Further Recovery From and Response To Terrorist Attacks on the United 
States is now in the Senate, having come from the House. Senator Byrd 
and Senator Cochran, who will manage this bill today, will be here at 2 
o'clock to present their opening statements. We hope Senators who have 
amendments will be in a position to offer those.
  Senator Byrd and Senator Stevens, the two managers of the bill, have 
suggested we have a cutoff time for the offering of amendments 
tomorrow. We will work toward that goal after conferring more with the 
two managers of the bill.
  Concerning this very important legislation, we need to move to it, as 
we will, and also move through it as quickly as we can.


                 Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act

  This week sometime we will also be able to deliberate on S. 625, the 
Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, which is commonly referred to as 
the hate crimes bill. Senate consideration of this legislation is much 
needed and really long overdue. It demonstrates once again, I believe, 
the change that has taken place in this body since Senator Daschle took 
over as majority leader. We are moving this legislation for that fact 
alone. We would not be on this legislation but for the fact that 
Senator Daschle is the majority leader.
  The present law does not respond to hate crimes motivated by a 
person's gender, sexual orientation, or disability. In fact, one of 
these characteristics, sexual orientation, is the third leading 
motivation behind hate crimes.
  By now everyone has heard of some of the most egregious cases of hate

[[Page S4884]]

crimes, national in scope. Happening just a few years ago, the one we 
still talk about is Matthew Shephard, a very small man in stature. He 
was a student at the University of Wyoming. He was gay. He was severely 
beaten and left for dead, simply because of his being gay.
  James Byrd, Jr., an African-American man, was dragged to his death 
behind a pickup truck in Texas. This man was walking home, simply 
walking on the street, when these evil people grabbed him, beat him, 
tied him to the back of a pickup, and dragged him through the streets 
while he was still alive.
  Unfortunately, these appalling tragedies were not isolated events. 
Incidents continue to be reported all over this country. Nevada is a 
small State population-wise--big in area--but even in the State of 
Nevada we have witnessed acts of hatred. A 20-year-old man from Las 
Vegas struck a Japanese-American girl in the head at a skinhead party. 
She just happened to be there. Someone set a black family's home on 
fire in Carson City and wrote the words ``White Power'' and other 
racial slurs at the scene. Vandals spray-painted a swastika and other 
graffiti on a Roman Catholic church in Henderson, NV. Three residents 
of Las Vegas burned a cross on the lawn of a black family's home. Two 
white men attacked two Muslim men with a baseball bat outside of a 
mosque in Sparks.
  Condemning these acts is important, but it is not enough. We must act 
with unbending resolve to legislate against them. These types of crimes 
not only infringe on the victims' rights, they erode people's sense of 
security and self-worth and confidence in our system.
  This country was founded on the principle that there should be 
liberty and justice for all. When perpetrators of hate crimes target 
anyone, they are really targeting against all of us and the principles 
upon which our diverse Nation was founded. We need those principles to 
continue to prevail.

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