Political Quotes

“I join my colleagues here and rise in strong support of this resolution. Since we have a limited amount of time, I would like to briefly comment on one aspect of this resolution, and that is Congress' full support of Federal, State and local law enforcement investigations. We are going to do more than offer just words. As chairman of the subcommittee in charge of ATF's appropriation, I will be introducing supplemental legislation next week as part of the fiscal year 1997 Treasury appropriations bill to provide $12 million in additional resources right here and right now. In addition, we will continue our commitment to solving these church fires with an additional $12 million for fiscal year 1997, a total of $24 million. If that does not do it, we will come back for some more. This money will go toward the basics of law enforcement, overtime, travel offices, phones, rewards, money, and equipment. This will allow the establishment of full-blown church fire task forces, not just the high level discussions that the administration has been hosting but real offices in the States where these churches are being burned, agents answering calls and gathering evidence. I have every confidence that we will be able to solve these crimes. ATF investigators have a world class reputation in arson investigation. They have been called in on challenging cases all around the world. They solved the World Trade Center bombing.”