Political Quotes

“can there by any doubt in the America of today that crime, that lawlessness, that violence that is afflicting our families and their homes and their businesses on streets and highways across this country is a No. 1 concern? Indeed at the very moment of this debate, Mr. Speaker, there are honest, hard-working Americans who are out there being subject to violence to their life, to destruction of their property, from those who are lawless, who are the target of this legislation, and yet one would think that, knowing the enormity of this problem, our Republican colleagues, who have a commanding majority, would be here structuring a debate so that we could have an open and free-flowing discussion of the most effective way to fight crime in this country. That is not occurring here. In fact, the underlying agenda of what is occurring here today is not open and free-flowing debate. Rather it is the attempt to split, and to split asunder, the first truly comprehensive smart crime fighting measure that this Congress enacted within less than 9 months. That bill is not presented to us today in whole. It is split into itty-bitty parts. And where do we begin in that debate? Do we begin up front in trying to prevent crime? Do we begin with the law enforcement officers, all of whom, all of the major law enforcement organizations, back this smart crime bill; do we begin with them? No, we begin at the tail end.…”