Tammy Baldwin: “I rise not to address the substance of this bill, but to address a matter that is most unfortunately missing from this…”

“I rise not to address the substance of this bill, but to address a matter that is most unfortunately missing from this bill. Today we consider H.R. 4472, the Children's Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2005, under the suspension calendar, which, of course, means that amendments cannot be offered. This bill encompasses H.R. 3132, the Children's Safety Act of 2005, which passed the House in September of 2005. When that bill was considered on the floor, a hate crimes amendment was offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), and it passed by a strong bipartisan vote of 223--199. Yet despite that strong bipartisan support from the Members of this Chamber, the hate crimes provision has been stripped out of the bill before us today, and there is simply no good reason for the House to consider H.R. 4472 without hate crimes language. One cannot fully address the issues of crime reduction and child safety without acknowledging the terrorizing impact hate-motivated violence has in our society, especially in subjecting groups of individuals to a debilitating state of fear for their safety and security. Hate crimes reduction is violent crime reduction, and it is about keeping millions of Americans, including children, safe from hate-motivated violence.…”