Arlen Specter

The National Institutes of Health are the crown jewels of the Federal Government--perhaps the only jewels.

$219 million doesn't give you a whole lot of visibility.

I would like you to go back to your office and review what could be accomplished with the $500 million.

We ought to be funding NIH a lot more aggressively than we are.

Mr. Chairman, you and I have found as much as $3.77 billion, in the past.

Many programs fail and many programs succeed.

This year's funding is also disgraceful, in my opinion, at $1 billion.

The Subcommittee would be interested in knowing about what prosecutions have been brought in the course of the past couple of years as we have seen evidence on Wall Street fraud.

Did you start the prosecution before they made the disclosures?

I wrote to the President, too, in 1995 suggesting that he veto it.

Well, criminal penalty again, but I am asking about jail differentiated from fine, which is a criminal penalty.

Congress has the authority to define what investment advice is.

A criminal penalty could be fine or jail. I am asking you whether you think that it would be indispensable to move to jail as an effective deterrent.

Is it sufficient to impose a fine? Or what kind of a fine would be big enough to be punishment?

The Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Law will now proceed with this hearing on the issues of alleged Wall Street fraud and what is the appropriate governmental response.

I was not putting Goldman in the question.

I am the cosponsor of the Crime Commission.

I think that the fact that we are using our prisons as mental hospitals is a terrible disservice to our prisoners.

There is no doubt that--talk about a crisis. The country is in a crisis with the deficit that we have and the national debt in excess of $12 trillion.

I think that the electronic era as an influence on our courts to the detriment is something that really needs a tremendous amount of attention.

Will you join us in working to reform the criminal justice system so that it truly reflects the most basic of American values: equality and fairness?

The answer to 'will I join you', is of course I will.

But I have been for decades.

I have legislation pending under the caption of a Veterans Bill of Rights which deals with a number of items.

I recommended changing the treaty with Mexico.