Louise Slaughter: “I rise today to strongly condemn what has been a wave of bombing activity throughout this Nation and to urge Congress to…”

“I rise today to strongly condemn what has been a wave of bombing activity throughout this Nation and to urge Congress to act. This type of violence must come to an end and I am working to do just that. On January 7, I reintroduced H.R. 85, the Bombing Prevention Act of 1997, which would help end this vicious attack on innocent persons. I urge my colleagues to sign on as cosponsors. I know you were as shocked as I was over the weekend when government offices, including the court, in San Diego were targeted with pipe bombs that were sent through the mail. Two hundred employees were evacuated, the package detonated by bomb squads in the FBI parking lot. Atlanta has faced an even more horrific tragedy. I still remember my outrage 2 weeks ago after an attack on a family planning clinic outside of Atlanta. The first bomb shattered concrete and blew away pieces of the wall and the ceiling at the building that housed the clinic. The second bomb was even more ominous. The terrorist designed it to spill blood by packing it with metal fragments and 3-inch concrete nails that were set to explode over a wide area. It was set to go off an hour after the first bomb so that law enforcement officials would bear the brunt of that explosion.”