[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 22804]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    REPUBLICANS STRIP HATE CRIME PREVENTION PROVISIONS FROM DEFENSE 
                           AUTHORIZATION BILL

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, later this afternoon we will be voting on 
the Defense authorization bill, which I strongly support, and I commend 
the committee for bringing it to the floor. I want to especially 
acknowledge the great work of our ranking member, the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Skelton) for his leadership on the legislation.
  I want to particularly acknowledge two things. One is, under the 
leadership of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), we had the 
phased-in elimination of the 2-tier survivor benefit over a period of 
3\1/2\ years. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards) and the gentleman 
from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) took the lead on that initiative with the 
Edwards discharge petition. They made it possible for the survivors.
  I want to acknowledge the work of the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Marshall), working with the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) to 
eliminate the 10-year phase-in of the disabled veterans tax for those 
with 100 percent VA disability ratings.
  However, one area where I was very disappointed, and I condemn the 
action of the conference committee, for the second time in 4 years, the 
Republican leadership has unconscionably ignored the will of the House 
and the Senate and stripped the hate crimes prevention provisions from 
the bill. The needs of law enforcement, which has repeatedly requested 
Federal assistance in solving and preventing a wide range of violent 
hate crimes, have been ignored. The measure enjoyed strong bipartisan 
support, was endorsed by over 175 law enforcement, civil rights, civic 
and religious organizations, including the National Sheriffs 
Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and 
many others.
  That list would have added sexual orientation, gender, and disability 
to the Federal hate crimes laws, allowing the Federal Government the 
ability to provide critical assistance to the States. It is very, very 
unfortunate that it has happened. I want the Record to show that this 
is the second time that this has happened.
  Four years ago, there was strong bipartisan support in both Houses 
supporting adding this to the Defense authorization bill. It was 
rejected 4 years ago. Once again, the Republican leadership of the 
House has decided that we will continue to discriminate against those 
on the basis of their sexual orientation.
  Having said that, I plan to support the Defense authorization and, 
once again, commend our colleagues for bringing it to the floor.

                          ____________________