[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 22354]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              HATE CRIMES

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is very important that what 
we do in this Congress is understandable, and it is important to 
clarify the information that goes out to the American people. Might I 
set the record straight on hate crimes, a legislative initiative that 
is very close to my heart, and one that many of us have worked very 
hard on. We will leave this Congress without passing a real hate crimes 
bill because the Republican majority will not allow us to vote on a 
hate crimes bill; not hate crimes for one ethnic or religious group in 
America but hate crimes for Americans, so that if one is disabled or if 
they come from a different background or live in a different way and 
someone attacks them because of their difference, we have a law that 
says we abhor hate.
  Mr. Speaker, let me set the record straight. It is clear that the 
hate crimes bill in Texas is not the bill that the family of James Byrd 
begged for; that bill the governor of Texas did not sign, did not 
support, even though there was massive support for it. We do not have a 
real hate crimes bill in Texas. Let us set the record straight.

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