William Hughes: “I would say to my dear friend, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. McCollum], and he is a friend, I have worked for many…”

“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 Judiciary, he was my ranking Republican, and we did a lot of tough, smart things that have made a difference: Money laundering, forfeiture, chemical tracking, and so forth. However, I want to say, I think my friend has lost his way on this one. I find myself suggesting to my friend, the gentleman from Florida, that he is going to do his own State in in this amendment, because his own State would not qualify. What does the McCollum amendment provide to the States? It does not provide a thing. It is an empty promise. If we listen to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Chapman], he was right on target, because the elements of the offense track the Federal code, and very few States around this country track the Federal code. Denton Darington is a senator from Idaho. He is a Republican Senator. He is chairman of the Crime Subcommittee, and he is adamantly opposed to this, because it would require the State of Idaho to change 40-some criminal statutes in Idaho, to be eligible for this money. The McCollum amendment is weaker than Florida law. It only deals with violent offenders, in ensuring that they serve a substantial portion of their time, for second offenders.”