[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 20063]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 293

  Mr. REID. One of the bills in this package that has been languishing 
for well over a year--and I think it is shameful that is, in fact, the 
case--is the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.
  Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy from Chicago visiting his relatives 
in Money, MS, way back in 1955 when he was brutally mutilated and 
killed for whistling at a white woman. Remember, his courageous mother, 
wanting everyone to see the brutality of how her boy was killed, had an 
open casket. That open casket said it all.
  The killers in this case, like so many others during that time, were 
never punished for their violent, treacherous acts. However, by passing 
this Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act, the Justice 
Department will have the tools necessary to investigate and prosecute 
violations of the civil rights statutes in which the alleged violation 
occurred before January 1 of 1970 and resulted in death.
  The bill has broad bipartisan support. I hope we can pass the House-
passed bill. That way, the bill will be signed by the President 
immediately.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 237, 
H.R. 293, that the bill be read a third time and passed, and the motion 
to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or 
debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. McCaskill.) Is there objection?
  Mr. COBURN. Reserving the right to object, I have a question for the 
majority leader. I understood from your statement that this does not 
have any of the changes we talked about, this is strictly the House-
passed bill.
  Mr. REID. That is right.
  Mr. COBURN. Reserving the right to object further, we will relook at 
what that is. I will object at this time and hope we can work out with 
the majority leader what we had discussed earlier in terms of a 
compromise.

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