[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 77 (Thursday, May 22, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S7054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself and Mr. DeWine):
  S. 1141. A bill to amend title 23, United States Code, to increase 
penalties for individuals who operate motor vehicles while intoxicated 
or under the influence of alcohol; to the Committee on Environment and 
Public Works.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, today Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio and 
I are helping to make a big stride in re-arming our country in the war 
against drunk driving. Together, we have introduced two pieces of 
legislation which will help reduce the number of civilian casualties in 
this war by arming our government safety officials with the weapons 
they need to keep drunk drivers off of our roads.
  First, I am proud to be a cosponsor of Senator DeWine's legislation 
on improving enforcement of drunk driving laws. There are some good 
drunk driving laws on the books and they should not be ignored. Since 
September 11, 2001, much of our country's law enforcement focus has 
been on ensuring the security of citizens from terrorist attack. This 
legislation will ensure that efforts to reduce drunk driving are not 
given short shrift. Almost 18,000 people died last year in alcohol-
related motor vehicle traffic crashes, and we must not neglect the 
safety of our highways. This bill provides needed resources for law 
enforcement and will deter people from drinking and driving to begin 
with.
  Second, I am proud to introduce, along with Senator DeWine, 
legislation targeting higher-risk drivers. This includes repeat 
offenders and drivers with blood alcohol concentration levels of 0.15 
percent or higher. Once these offenders are caught, we need to make 
sure they don't fall through the cracks in the legal system. These 
criminals should not be behind the wheel--I believe they are a menace 
to our society, and we should not tolerate their existence.
  I have long been interested in making our roads and highways safer. 
During my previous tenure, I saw to it that the Federal government took 
responsibility for reducing the number of fatalities due to drunk 
driving. I authored laws to increase the minimum drinking age for 
alcoholic beverages from 18 to 21, and to encourage States to establish 
.08 percent as the blood alcohol concentration standard for drunk 
driving nationwide. These laws have made our roads and highways safer 
and my hope is that they have saved many precious lives.
  I feel that the Federal Government needs to take a strong leadership 
role to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. States cannot deal with these 
problems in a comprehensive manner. We have passed legislation 
encouraging states to establish tougher standards for highways safety 
and drunk driving, but: 32 States still don't have a primary 
enforcement safety belt law; 11 States still have not adopted the .08 
percent Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) standard; 24 States still don't 
have an open container law; and 27 States still don't have a repeat 
offender law for drunk driving offenses.
  I am particularly disappointed that my home State of New Jersey has 
not yet adopted the .08 percent BAC standard. At risk are millions of 
dollars in Federal highway funding that our State desperately needs to 
repair and improve our roads and bridges. Here in Congress, I fight 
desperately for this funding. But the State puts this funding at risk 
rather than make a sensible safety choice and adopt a .08 percent BAC 
standard. This is why I feel that the Federal Government needs to take 
a leadership role in setting policies that will save lives by reducing 
drunk driving.
  I feel that States need stronger ``encouragement'' to address these 
important highway safety issues. We have already tried threatening 
withholding highway construction funds, but if we allow a loophole for 
States to recover the funds within 4 years; maybe that still is not 
enough encouragement.
  Now it is time to take the next step in getting drunk drivers off our 
roads. I look forward to working with Senator DeWine and the rest of my 
colleagues in the Senate to reduce the 18,000 alcohol-related traffic 
fatalities that occur each year. I urge my colleagues to join me and 
Senator DeWine in supporting both of these important pieces of 
legislation.

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