Gary Condit: “the Beilenson-Berman-Condit-Thurman amendment is not the amendment that I would like to be considering today. It is a…”

“the Beilenson-Berman-Condit-Thurman amendment is not the amendment that I would like to be considering today. It is a compromise. It is the strongest language that was allowed to come to the floor. While I strongly believe that the amendment should take effect immediately, it would not go into effect until 1998. Until 1998, the language would be subject to appropriations. So the message that I would like to get across today is that if this amendment passes, we must work even harder to try to get the necessary appropriations to live up to our Federal obligations. The Beilenson-Berman-Condit-Thurman amendment would require the Federal Government to reimburse State and local governments for the costs of incarcerating criminal aliens. This is not a California issue, or a Florida issue, or a Texas issue. It is an issue of fairness and responsibility. If the Federal Government fails to keep individuals from entering the country illegally, then the Federal Government should be responsible for the consequences, even if they are financial. To force local and State governments to use their limited resources to deal with criminal aliens is wrong. They need these resources to fight crime in the streets and to keep violent criminals behind bars. There is a cost to the Federal Government. But this is not a luxury. It is not a new program. The money is already being spent by local and State governments.”