Melvin Watt: “this amendment simply would request the U.S. Sentencing Commission to review this matter and make recommendations about…”

“this amendment simply would request the U.S. Sentencing Commission to review this matter and make recommendations about enhancements for the areas that are covered by this bill. Mr. Chairman, it is time for us to get a grip. It is time for us to get a grip. We have taken a bill which should never have come to this floor, and it has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime, as somebody used to say to me when I was growing up. We have added a new Federal crime for crossing State lines to engage in sexual acts or sexual abuse of a child under age 12. We have added sex crimes against women. We have increased the enhancement from five levels to six levels. I do not know what the rational basis for that was, if there, in fact, was any. But everybody was afraid to vote against it, so it must have been a good idea, because politically, it is expedient. We have added environmental crimes when they do violence. We have added mail order sale of body armor, and police officers. We have added laser sighting devices. We have refused to add the most vulnerable populations in our country, those who live in low-income areas, but I submit to the Members that that was no less or more rational than any of the others. In the process we have illustrated, time after time after time, how slippery this slope is.”