Lindsey Graham: “to get the statute to kick into effect, all you need is an Attorney General willing to do it. There is no Federal nexus…”

“to get the statute to kick into effect, all you need is an Attorney General willing to do it. There is no Federal nexus in the traditional sense of what has been the law of this land since its inception. Number two, to get this statute to kick into effect, you are treating Americans differently who may have suffered the same harm. The example I gave at Columbine, three dead kids, three different reasons in the mind of the perpetrator; one gets the statute, the other does not. That is not going to make this a better country. Mr. Speaker, the State court systems have proven themselves to rise to the occasion in horrendous events of recent time. The Wyoming case, the person who was brutally murdered because of sexual orientation, those persons are serving life in jail. It was done by the people of Wyoming. Wyoming is a better place for having taken care of that problem and risen to the occasion. The recent case of the African American being dragged to his death in Texas, two of the three perpetrators are on death row, where they should be. This statute would not allow that to happen if they were tried in Federal Court, and there would not have been a second prosecution.”