William Hughes

Mr. Chairman, the substitute amendment I am offering will not change the crack cocaine penalties. The substitute will require the U.S. Sentencing Commission to provide a comprehensive report by the end of this year on all cocaine…

I rise in opposition to this Gordon amendment and in support of the Wynn amendment. I understand the feelings generated by the idea that there is money available for inmates for education when there are law-abiding Americans who may be…

I support the packaging of these 6 en bloc amendments, but I must say that I do have some difficulties with No. 48, the Pryce amendment. As presently structured, I think it is overly broad, and I think it could be counterproductive. It is…

I would say to my dear friend, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. McCollum], and he is a friend, I have worked for many years on crime legislation. When I chaired the Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice of the Committee on the…

Mr. Chairman, first of all, I think Members should understand that Hyde has basically returned us to existing law, which is a mess. I mean, if anything, habeas corpus has been substantially abused in this country, and I think most Members…

I congratulate the gentleman. I support his amendment. It puts $10.5 billion in for prison grant programs for the States. The gentleman has done a good job of working with the Governors and corrections officials around the country. It is…

How can anybody be opposed to developing a comprehensive plan to manage precious Federal resources or State resources? I do not know how my colleague, who is a dear friend of mine, from New Mexico can argue that there is something…

I rise in opposition to the latest version of McCollum, and I think the latest version of McCollum is worse than the first version of McCollum, and I will tell my colleagues why. Mr. Chairman, under the McCollum amendment States would not…

When the Supreme Court invalidated all death penalties more than 20 years ago, it did so because of the uncertainty in the law and practice at that time. The Court found that it was not possible to find any rational pattern or set of rules…

I support the death penalty, as most of my colleagues know, where I believe it can be constitutionally imposed... a jury can consider, as one of the aggravating factors, the heinous nature of the offense, cruel nature of the offense, or…

I do not think the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Gekas], my friend, understands his own amendment. He eliminates life imprisonment without parole where the death penalty is involved.

I do not have the time--under six of the aggravating factors. The gentleman from Pennsylvania would have us, under his amendment, basically consider the elements of the offense which, I think, is going to open up the constitutional attack…

Second, the gentleman has misread the bill. A rape, a heinous rape or serious physical abuse, is an aggravating factor under the bill as written.

It is not an element of the offense. The gentleman misunderstands what an element of the offense is. That is not an element of the offense. I say to my colleague from Pennsylvania, ``I tried capital cases. The gentleman is trying to tell…

You know, Mr. Speaker, here we go again with another crime bill. And we start off once again by an acrimonious debate over the fact that a lot of Members did not have their amendments made in order. I understand that. We have as much…

I rise in opposition to all of the proposed constitutional amendments dealing with a balanced budget. It is important that we do not frame this debate in terms of whether or not a balanced budget is a worthy goal--of course it is. To…

I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 218, the fiscal 1995 budget resolution. I wish to commend Chairman Sabo and his colleagues on the Budget Committee for their outstanding work in developing this measure and bringing it to…

I rise in strong support of title III of H.R. 6, particularly the Civic Education Program. As my colleagues know, the Civic Education Program called We the People, the Citizen and the Constitution teaches students about the history and…

I really do not understand a lot of things. I do understand the frustration, because it does seem like an inordinate amount of time has been taken with this investigation, but we have had three U.S. attorneys, one appointed by a…

I can tell the gentleman there are lots of reasons why I would not want to identify as a prosecutor the subjects or targets of the investigation for a lot of reasons. When you have not completed the investigations, sometimes subjects…

I rise in opposition to the Gekas amendment. I realize that an increasing number of our colleagues find that there is political mileage in attacking the institution of which they are Members, and maligning their colleagues. Like the…

listening to the minority whip reminds me of my younger days when I visited the carnival and saw the shell game. That is what this is all about. Many of the Republicans as a matter of policy have been opposed to the independent counsel…

I rise today to pay tribute to one of the true giants in American history, the late Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill. There is no one who I admired more throughout my political career than I did Tip O'Neill. He embodied everything that…

I rise in support of House Resolution 323 which seeks to correct a wrong that has existed for far too long. Hugo Princz is a man who has suffered the tragedy of a lifetime. As Jewish Americans living in Czechoslovakia, he and his family…