Herb Kohl: “The FBI this coming year is funded at a 15-percent increase over last year. There is not a single request the FBI has…”

“The FBI this coming year is funded at a 15-percent increase over last year. There is not a single request the FBI has made for funding that we have not authorized and are prepared to fund, without--without--this $80 million. This $80 million is over and above everything that the FBI has authorized, the President has requested and the House has funded. He talks about midnight basketball league, and that is a synonym for money that we think is wasted on prevention. As Senator Cohen pointed out, this money is block granted to States. They do not have to spend it on midnight basketball. We have decided that much of the money we are spending at the Federal level the States can spend much more effectively. You have made that argument time and time again. Let the Governors, let the local government spend the money, not Washington. That is what these crime prevention programs are aimed at. These crime prevention programs, if the Governors so wish, could be spent on programs like DARE. Everyone in this Chamber understands and recognizes that DARE is a program that works. So midnight basketball is not where these funds are going to be expended. They are going to be given to States and Governors and local governments to spend as they see fit.”