Political Quotes

“The first is in no way to deprecate or understate the problem of gang violence on Indian reservations, or, for that matter, in any other place, but simply to point out that this bill includes greater increases for Indian programs taken as a whole than it does for any other set of programs. At the request of the President and of the Senator from New Mexico, Mr. Domenici, tribal priority allocations are increased by some $76 million, the distribution of which is to be determined primarily by Indian organizations themselves, any portion of which can be dedicated to this purpose. Second, the appropriations bill managed by my friend from Colorado, the chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, the appropriations bill for Treasury-Postal increases the so-called grant program to $13 million with specific reference to criminal gang activity on Indian reservations and a direction to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to help curtail that gang violence. This $13 million in that bill can be used in whole or in part for the goal that the two Senators aim at. When one totals up all of the public safety and justice programs in the bill before us, the Interior bill, that is an additional $116 million-plus.”