Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the assault weapons ban, and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this crucial measure. This ban is not the same bill that the House defeated in 1991. It is stronger and more narrowly…

I urge that this motion to instruct be rejected for a very simple and practical reason. Now I certainly agree that we should have mandatory minimum sentences and have fought in the bill to keep them in, and I also believe that truth in…

this is an historic moment. For the first time this body is recognizing the anguish out on the streets that hollers to us, do something about crime. We are tough on punishment. We are smart on prevention. This bill should not be deterred…

I rise in support of the amendment by the gentleman from Oklahoma [Mr. McCurdy], creating a police corps program. It is designed, as we all know, to increase the number of law enforcement officers with advanced education and training and…

Mr. Chairman, one of the great ironies is that the gentleman from Florida--and I hope the gentleman from New York knows that the gentleman from Florida [Mr. McCollum] voted for the proposal that he is now seeking to strike, in…

We do not have to debate this over and over and over and over again. You lost the Rules vote. The Rules vote was a vote that was saying to the American people, ``We want a crime bill, but we do not want to dither the way we did last year…

Mr. Chairman, despite my great respect for the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Schiff], I must strongly disagree with his amendment. No State in the country has enough prison resources to deal with all of those who commit crime. We know…

I rise in support of the Chapman amendment. I support Mr. Chapman's amendment. It would provide States a potential of $10.5 billion in prison money over and above $3 billion they'll receive under the prisons title crafted by Mr. Hughes'…

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…

OK; reclaiming my time, it is simply that the jury would not be able to do that, and that is my point. We want to give the jury the flexibility there because otherwise they would not find, they are not going to find, for a capital crime…

If this was a pretty horrendous crime, but they did not quite feel that it should get the ultimate sentence, capital punishment, they would then only get a term of years as sentenced by the judge, and I do not think that makes a great deal…

I rise in opposition to the Kasich amendment. I do not think we will need a magnifying glass to find the cuts that will fall on the criminal justice system if this amendment passes. We have done a very good job of cutting the deficit. The…

I rise in opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, as has been stated, there are times when I believe that capital punishment is the appropriate punishment, but that does not mean a jury should…

I certainly believe, when you are going to invoke the ultimate punishment, that is capital punishment, we ought to be very careful and very delineating in what we do. To say that there should be an opened aggravating factor, that anything…

we are at a historic moment here today. For the first time, Congress is making crime fighting a top priority. We have a real consensus on both sides of the aisle that a major crime bill is necessary. Mr. Speaker, the bill is overdue. We…

the debate on the crime bill begins tomorrow in this House, but the national debate has already begun, and unfortunately the National Rifle Association is at it again. The NRA is sinking to the cheap shot, the smear, the big lie. I am…

I rise in support of the bill. In my opinion, it is the best criminal bill we have written since this Congress started. I am proud of it. Members should be proud of it. Because the crime bill is tough, and it is also smart. It is tough…

Let me just say that obviously a resolution like this involves issues where there are some conflicting crosscurrents. The most important conflicting crosscurrents are the right of the public to know and the obligation of Mr. Fiske to…

I am in support of the legislation. Let me say two things, Madam Speaker, No. 1, it is about time we did this. It is just long overdue. If America is going to have a banking system that can compete internationally, we should have…

it seems to me that the gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder] has made a generous offer. If the gentleman seeks debate, which we have had twice already on this bill, but wishes to do it a third time, which he is saying is, ``Trade in…

today is day 3 of the Brady law and the early evidence is already in: careful gun control works, and works well. During the first 48 hours of the new law, convicted criminals and mentally unstable people all across the Nation have been…

I think we have no moral choice here. To me this is not an issue over free speech. Free speech, unfortunately, allows people like Mr. Muhammad to say what he wants. Free speech should impel us to say that it is wrong. But I would like to…

I do not know how many of my colleagues have had the opportunity to see the movie, ``Schindler's List'', but I commend it to everybody. The horror of the Holocaust, of course, fades in most people's minds as we move in history. But it…