Political Quotes

“I of course want to thank the gentleman from Kentucky, Chairman Rogers, for yielding me this time, and I rise in strong support of this bill. I also want to commend the bipartisan leadership in the subcommittee for producing a good bill. Let us make it very, very clear, this legislation fights crime. Not only does it increase funding or provide funding to train and equip new police officers and provide for better enforcement along our borders, but it does something else that is very, very important, and that is, it provides $680 million in funding for prisons and juvenile detention center development. In fact, that is $50 million more than the President asked for. That is particularly important to States like Illinois, which I represent, and there is a reason why. If we look at crime statistics, the biggest increases are in juvenile crime. In fact, in Illinois, unfortunately, while we are seeing an increase in juvenile crime, there are only 351 juvenile detention center beds outside of Cook County. Counties such as Grundy, Kankakee, and La Salle, which I represent, are seeing an increase in youth crime but no place to put them. Thanks to this Republican Congress we passed legislation, signed into law this year, which allows these funds to be used for juvenile detention center jails. I urge an ``aye'' vote, and look forward to working with local law enforcement. This is a good bill.”