Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick: “Let us be clear. America's greatest problem today is what we will do with our young people as we move to the new…”

“Let us be clear. America's greatest problem today is what we will do with our young people as we move to the new millennium, how we will educate them, how we will treat them and how we will offer them the opportunity they need to become productive citizens in this world. Let us be clear. H.R. 3, $1.5 billion, only addresses 12 States. Thirty-eight States cannot even get in the front door of H.R. 3 in its present form. Let us talk about what our children need. They need opportunity. They need hope. Over 300,000 of them find themselves in the juvenile system. They need hope. They want us to work with them. We want to put the toughest in prison. We think violent offenders must be incarcerated. Over 98 percent of the bill before us, H.R. 3, only talks about enforcement. Nothing about hope. All studies show that children need to be educated, disciplined, counseled and loved. H.R. 3 in its present form does not do that. The Democratic substitute does offer hope.”