Sam Farr: “I rise today to talk about the crime bill we are going to vote on this afternoon. This crime bill is not just a tough…”

“I rise today to talk about the crime bill we are going to vote on this afternoon. This crime bill is not just a tough bill on crime. It is not just a bill that creates more prisons. It is not just a bill that creates more death penalties. It is not just additional criminal punishment. This bill is a good anticrime, procommunity bill. It needs to be pointed out that there is a youth initiative in this legislation to allow for elementary children and high school children to have afterschool programs. There are new funds in this bill for cities and counties and States to develop an anticrime program on the street level. There is more interaction in this bill for police on the streets to work cooperatively with their communities so that we have a smart cop on the beat. Hopefully this bill would incorporate a ban on assault rifles. This is not in the legislation today, but when the House brings it up, I hope they will follow the lead of the California legislature and other States that have taken a tough stand to ban assault rifles. I ask this body to support the crime bill today and to support the ban on assault rifles when it appears in a few weeks.”