Political Quotes

“I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4092, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. More importantly, I rise in support of the right of each American to be free from fear. A few days ago, I joined residents, community activists, and police officers in walking tours of two Missouri neighborhoods--St Louis' Soulard neighborhood, and the Prospect Avenue area of Kansas City. The residents of these neighborhoods are hard-working people who come from their day jobs and immediately start their second jobs--protecting their homes and children from fear, drugs, and crime. The working people of St. Louis, Kansas City, and other cities, towns, and rural communities throughout Missouri, know that the deadly mixture of poverty, drugs, guns, and gangs has become a poison to their neighborhoods. They live with crime every day of their live. These law-abiding citizens--beset by lawlessness--have asked for our help. What can this House do? In the short term, we must expand policing and tighten punishment to get the criminals off the streets. In the long term, we must make real efforts to prevent crime and combat the underlying forces that lead to criminal behavior. These efforts include the Ounce of Prevention and Youth Employment Services [YES] programs that are part of this bill. Also, we need to make fundamental improvements in education, emphasize economic development in our cities, and restructure assistance to the unemployed and underemployed.”