On the recordOctober 20, 2011
I rise to speak against the Webb amendment to the bill. Senator Webb from Virginia spoke earlier about the purpose of this legislation. I believe if we had the time to work on this amendment we could accommodate the Senator's proposed goals for the commission. However, this has not gone through the Judiciary Committee. It is an authorization of a commission--it is called the National Criminal Justice Commission--which is purporting to look at the entire criminal justice system--Federal, State, and local. This is an overreach of gigantic proportions. It is certainly within the purview of Congress to do a national commission to look at the Federal criminal justice system, but to go into State and local governments and purport to examine the criminal justice systems of our States and local governments is far beyond the reach of Congress, and it is certainly not a priority we should meet in appropriations bills when we are already in a deficit and debt crisis in this country. I ask unanimous consent that a letter from the National District Attorneys Association and a letter from the National Association of Police Organizations be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: National District Attorneys Association, Alexandria, VA. Please Oppose S.A.…
