John Conyers

That was not going on in Michigan, and the gentleman knows it. So why did the gentleman persuade Governor Engler of Michigan, who does not know particularly much about criminal law at the State or Federal level, to do something like this?

But how is it we knew better what they should do with their State criminals than they did?

Mr. Speaker, I would explain to my friend, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant] who has lectured us about brassiere and pantyhose burning, mailbox bashing, burning of trash, my dear friend, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant], those…

I would like to turn to my friend, the gentleman from Chicago, Il [Mr. Lipinski], who made the point that it is expressive conduct, but not free speech, in defining the flag burning situation. I would like to ask the gentleman from…

I address my remarks to the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution because he quoted former Supreme Court Justice Black. The quote that he made does not come out of any case that Justice Black ever decided. It is in…

By the way, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman has 1 hour to do all the quoting he wants. May I point out, Mr. Speaker, that speech is protected; that action is protected speech under the first amendment. I do not care what anybody once said. At…

The small, the independent, inventor in small businesses have expressed concern, and so the manager's amendment will give them a choice over whether or not they wish to be published. It will effectively exempt independent inventors by…

Is the gentleman aware of page 10 of the Coble manager's amendment starting at line one that exempts the small independent inventor from publication?

The Republican platform of 1996 reads that the constitutional protection of women's right to choice should be revoked by constitutional amendment. Here are bills that are pending in the Committee on the Judiciary for doing it, at least the…

Would the gentleman from New Jersey be reminded that we do not call each other liars in the course of the debate?

Is the gentleman suggesting in his recent discourse that most of the voters that want term limits would be unhappy with the immediacy provision that the Dingell amendment provides?

Reclaiming my time, in other words, you are blaming the President of the United States for Newt Gingrich's decision to remove it?

Now, it just so happens that the bill that you so avidly support here on the floor is nothing more than a mean-spirited attempt to punish children for the actions of their parents. Did you explain that to your cousins from Australia? And…

Well, you ought to be happy to. But this is the provision that came out of the immigration bill so it would have a life. And it did not come from the President or the Democrats. Guess who wanted it out?

Now, my dear friend, Mr. Gallegly, one of the best mayors California ever produced, how come you did not allow this great provision to remain where it was created, in the immigration bill? You have not explained that on the floor.

If you break the law in America, you get rewarded? We have got more people in prison for breaking the law than any nation on the face of the planet, and building more prisons than schools. We are now federally subsidizing the increase of…

We began the attempt to do something during the summer recess by meeting with the President of the United States and the White House with our leadership, the ranking member of judiciary, myself, Vice President, Attorney General, FBI…

To my astonishment, I just heard my good friend, the gentleman from Ohio, Martin Hoke, the distinguished member of the Committee on the Judiciary from Cleveland, OH, make an incredible link between illegitimacy and welfare. I think he…

I think that the action this Congress has taken and the speed with which we have moved serves notice to all would-be terrorists of the domestic variety that the Federal and State governments will use all of their activities and resources…

Can one of the Members on the Republican side, including the gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Shays], my good friend, ever get off the rhetoric and start talking about what is in this great bill? The tax breaks are for the wealthy. There is…

I can suggest to you that the work product does not deserve much consideration here. But also I would like to point out to my friends, just as we lay to rest who is getting the money here, we cannot deny that the political action…

Reclaiming my time, we could cut off their rights to seek compensation even in clear, uncontested cases of negligence.

The really significant thing we are doing by passing this bill, and I certainly urge its adoption, is what the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] was creative enough to come forward with. This is to send a message to those who would…

In what respect, sir? It would not change a line in the bill. It would take the bill, assuming that it is passed, send it to the commission, and guess what? Anything that the commission does that we do not approve of, guess what we can do…

I commend the gentleman's logic, because when we send it to the Sentencing Commission, they must send it back to us and then we can approve or then make any modifications we choose.