Charles E. Schumer: “I appreciate not only the chairman of the subcommittee's hard work but the way he has put together this bill. I have to…”

“I appreciate not only the chairman of the subcommittee's hard work but the way he has put together this bill. I have to oppose the McCollum amendment. Let me say that it is one thing to support the concept behind the McCollum amendment. I support mandatory minimums. I fought off, in subcommittee, efforts to eliminate them. I believe in truth in sentencing. But it is totally the other thing to tie these concepts to State eligibility for desperately needed money to build more prisons. In doing so, the McCollum amendment ensures that hardly a State in the Nation would get prison money under the bill. And that is because the cost of complying with the law would vastly outweigh monies States would get if they did comply. My own State, New York, estimates it would cost $1.6 billion to comply with the McCollum requirements, when doing so would bring New York about $250 million to $300 million in return. That is true of Pennsylvania. That is true of Illinois, and that is true of California and that is true of Florida. That is true of most every one of us major States. In other words, to get the monies that McCollum provides, necessary monies, I believe we have to build more prison cells. I am not one of those who say do not punish. I believe in punishment, particularly for violent repeat offenders, strong punishment, tough punishment, long punishment.”