James Barcia: “Of course, I do not want to second-guess our leadership, neither the gentleman's nor the distinguished chair's and…”

“Of course, I do not want to second-guess our leadership, neither the gentleman's nor the distinguished chair's and subcommittee chair's, on that very distinguished committee in this House. But it would be my impression as a layperson, not being a graduate of law school, that there ought to be discretion between misdemeanors and felonies on the three-strikes-and-you-are-out. That may be an issue we will revisit at some point in the future. But I can tell the Members that this resolution involves truth-in-sentencing, and I know my good friend, the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Conyers, supported that crime bill here in the House, which contained the same provision for Federal offenses. What we are trying to do is see the same treatment of violent offenders at the State level, because many of the truly violent crimes, such as rape and homicide, unless there are extenuating circumstances, they are in fact infractions of State law and not Federal law. That is why we are attempting to pass this resolution.”