Gerald Kleczka: “Mr. Chairman, as I review the legislation before us, I at first blush thought it was an unfunded mandate bill on the…”

“Mr. Chairman, as I review the legislation before us, I at first blush thought it was an unfunded mandate bill on the States. But as I have listened to the debate and as I have studied the bill, I find that it is not only an unfunded mandate bill, but it is also a blackmail bill. We have been told for years that the attitude that Congress knows best and one size fits all, and we should tell the locals what to do because we are smarter, has to end. With some of the legislation we already passed this session, we indicated it is a new day, those things are going to end. But now that same attitude has reared its ugly head in this legislation. What we are calling for here is longer sentences, the 85 percent goal. And my friends, it is not only on Federal crimes, which we have a right and responsibility to legislate and dictate, but it is on State violations of their criminal law. We are telling the State legislatures and the Governors, who are up here all the time hugging the Republicans, that when it comes to welfare block grants and Medicare block grants, you can have all the latitude you want, including millions and billions of dollars. But when it comes to your legislature handing out prison sentences to your inmates in violation of your State crimes, which the Republican Congress know best, I think that is phony. I think that is hypocrisy, and I will tell you where the mandate comes in.…”