Kay Bailey Hutchison: “Mr. President, today all Americans will stop and remember the terrible tragedy that occurred 1 year ago today in…”

“Mr. President, today all Americans will stop and remember the terrible tragedy that occurred 1 year ago today in Oklahoma City. We extend, all of us in the U.S. Congress and all over America, our prayers and our thoughts to those who lost family and friends in that senseless tragedy. Last week, Congress passed laws to make it harder for criminals to inflict the kind of terror we saw in Oklahoma City and at the New York World Trade Center before that. This antiterrorist law is just one small step toward taking back our cities, our towns, and our communities. Taking them back from dangerous and predator criminals who have made us afraid to walk the streets at night, who have forced us to put bars on our windows, and who have caused us to place metal detectors in our Federal buildings and in some public schools in our country. Mr. President, one thing the law we just passed does is make it harder for prison inmates to file years and years of appeals that tie up our courts for years, dulling the sword of justice. Often, to many Americans, it seems as if our court system cares more about criminals' rights than the rights of law-abiding citizens. But there is more the American people expect of us. They have had enough of liberal judges who think it is their responsibility to turn dangerous criminals out to society, when society would like to keep them behind bars.”