Political Quotes

“I agreed to cosponsor this amendment with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) because I felt it was so important for us to send a message to the court system and to our judicial system that, when a person is sentenced, that person should spend that appropriate time in prison. Now, I realize there may be some deficiencies in this amendment. I realize if this goes to conference that maybe a few things ought to be changed. But I think one of the reasons that we do not have as much crime as we had a few years ago is because people are staying in jail longer. We put mandatory sentences in. I worried about mandatory sentences, but the results are the crime rate has dropped dramatically for violent crime throughout the country, and I think it is important for all of us to think about the victims of the crime. One way to make sure that they are separated is to keep them in prison for the time. If we put them out, drug dealers, a person that commits a violent crime, out on the street prematurely, there is no question in my mind the crime rate will start to go back up again. So I would urge Members to support this amendment and to vote overwhelmingly to send a message that we do not want people, just because of a technicality, overcrowding, to be out in the street before their time that they have spent in prison.”