Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 22, 1994 TAG: 9404220202
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press Note: above
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The bill passed 285-141. Negotiators from the Senate and House now will attempt to work out a compromise with a $22 billion version approved by the Senate in November.
``This is a historic moment,'' said Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the Judiciary Committee's crime panel. ``For the first time, this body is recognizing the anguish on the streets that calls out to us to do something tough on crime.''
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jack Brooks, D-Texas, said the bill broke the mold of past efforts by ``ensuring that hardened repeat offenders will be put out of commission for good while not giving up on a whole new generation of young people who can be helped to avoid taking the wrong path.''
President Clinton cheered the vote. ``The House of Representatives made their intentions clear: Crime will not pay,'' Clinton said in a statement read by Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers. ``Democrats and Republicans joined together to break the gridlock and make our streets safer.''
The bill drew the support of 219 Democrats, 65 Republicans and one independent. Voting against it were 107 Republicans and 34 Democrats.
All of Virginia's Democrats voted for the bill except Robert Scott of Richmond. All of Virginia's Republicans voted against the bill.
The measure would authorize spending $13.5 billion for state prison building grants, $7 billion for crime prevention, $2 billion for rehabilitation such as drug treatment in prisons and $3.45 billion for 50,000 more police officers.
The real controversy was over the nonfinancial aspects.
The bill expands from two to nearly 70 the number of crimes that could result in the death penalty, including drive-by killings and fatal carjackings and actions of big-time drug pushers, even when no one is killed. Some of the crimes carried the death penalty before the Supreme Court overturned it in 1972, but some, like the drive-by killings, are new.
It would allow defendants facing the death penalty to use racial statistics on capital punishment as evidence of discrimination - a provision that Republicans asserted would eviscerate the death penalty. But with the support of the Congressional Black Caucus, the House voted 235-192 to leave it in the bill.
by CNB