Steven Gunderson: “we spend a lot of time in this House talking about crime, anticrime legislation. I would like to suggest to my…”

“we spend a lot of time in this House talking about crime, anticrime legislation. I would like to suggest to my colleagues the bill in front of you now will do more to prevent crime in this country than anything we did during that 3 weeks' marathon, because the most important thing we can do at the Federal Government level is get to children at risk at an early age. That is why I encourage you to support this conference report. Head Start will get to literally thousands, if not millions, of children at risk before they begin school so that they can be a full partner in that school. In Wisconsin, 9,000 kids alone are going to benefit from this program. This conference report connects it more to education than the system of Head Start has been in the past. Second, in the community services block grant we have included a number of programs, such as the National Youth Sports Program, which goes to the same children at risk during their elementary school years, during the summer, making sure they are not only busy doing good things but that they have not only an athletic component but an educational component as well. I say to my colleagues, ``So, when you vote today on this conference report, remember this is the real way we at the Federal Government can truly fight crime.”