On the recordJanuary 26, 1994
I hope that the Democratic leadership will decide to bring to the floor a crime bill which reflects the President's goals as outlined last night. We, on the Republican side, would like to ensure that people convicted of three felonies get life imprisonment. We would like to ensure that there are enough prisons for State and local communities and the Federal Government to lock up violent offenders. We would like to take the steps necessary to ensure, for example, by releasing the unfunded mandates so that cities and counties could direct resources to fighting crime, to hiring policemen, to building prisons, to hiring prosecutors. We believe it is possible to write a genuine crime bill matching what the Senate has done. But so far, the Democratic leadership has only brought forward tiny little pigmy bills, traveling across for press release purposes, and they have refused to schedule a crime bill like the one the President was alluding to last night. We, on the Republican side, stand ready and eager to work with the Democratic leadership, if they will only schedule a crime bill to meet the objectives the President outlined.
