Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408270041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The vote was 61-38. Hours earlier, a handful of Republicans joined Democrats in narrowly blocking a GOP effort that would have derailed the bill.
The legislation authorizes thousands of prison cells, establishes new crime-prevention programs, bans assault-style weapons, creates more than 50 new death penalties and is intended to help hire 100,000 new police officers.
It also fulfills one of Clinton's campaign pledges two years ago. The House passed the measure Sunday, and it now goes to the White House for the president's signature.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., called the package ``a tough bill, a straightforward bill that the cops want, the prosecutors want and the people need.''
But Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole countered that the measure was unduly expensive and loaded with ``pork.''
``When the people wake up tomorrow morning, it's going to be sticker shock,'' Dole said.
Earlier Thursday, six Republicans joined 55 Democrats to block a last-ditch GOP effort that would have undone the painstakingly crafted bill negotiated last week by Democrats and moderate Republicans in the House.
Virginia's senators voted along party lines, with Democrat Charles Robb voting yes and Republican John Warner voting no.
Clinton immediately marched to the White House lawn to praise the lawmakers and share in the glow of their work.
``Today, senators of both parties took a brave and promising step to bring the long, hard wait for a crime bill closer to an end,'' said Clinton. Americans had waited six years for action on a major crime bill, he added.
In that earlier vote, supporters of the crime bill won with only a single vote to spare, 61-39. Republicans could have sidetracked the bill by garnering 41 votes. The only senator not to vote on final passage of the bill was Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo.
Most of the Senate's 44 Republicans wanted to block the bill, calling it too costly and complaining that minimum sentences should have been toughened. They said there were too many dollars for prevention and not enough money for enforcement.
Shortly before the final vote on the crime bill itself, supporters once again mustered the 60 votes necessary to choke off speeches demanded by senators such as Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Larry Craig, R-Idaho - both board members of the National Rifle Association. That vote also was 61-38.
Just prior to the vote on the GOP procedural move, a grim-faced Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell declared that Congress had been gridlocked long enough on crime legislation.
``Finally, there comes a time to act,'' he said, waving his arm for emphasis.
``Finally, there comes a time when delay is no longer an option ... when we must stand up and answer the roll. Are we or are we not willing to put our votes where our speeches are and do something about the tide of crime and violence and fear that engulfs our nation?''
But Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the Judiciary Committee's senior Republican, slammed the Clinton administration and the bill's supporters, saying, ``This bill is not tough on crime. Most of the money will be used to help re-elect the people they want to re-elect.''
Democrats needed Republican help because the procedural issue, a point of order on the bill's financing, only needed 41 votes to be sustained, 60 votes to be defeated. There are 56 Democrats and 44 Republicans in the Senate, and one Democrat, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, voted with the Republicans.
Republican senators voting to keep the crime bill on track were: John Chafee of Rhode Island, John Danforth of Missouri, James Jeffords of Vermont, Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, William Roth of Delaware and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. All but Specter were among the 10 Republicans who voted last November to add the assault-style firearms ban to the Senate's crime bill.
Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas said the Republicans ``had the votes for about 24 hours'' to win the procedural motion, but then lost three critical votes to Mitchell. ``I regret that I failed as the leader to keep our people together on this side of the aisle,'' he said.
Mitchell won those three Republicans with an offer to permit a single vote on stripping $5 billion from the bill, something sought by the GOP. ``I think it is unfortunate that my Republican colleagues chose not to accept this offer,'' said Kassebaum.
The bill had cleared the House by a vote of 235-195 last Sunday with the support of 46 Republicans.
Delays in congressional action on the crime bill already have pushed back and possibly erased chances for action on another of Clinton's top priorities - health care reform - making a victory on crime even more important to his presidency.
Clinton campaigned on a pledge to help put more police on the streets, and the crime bill would devote $8.8 billion to accomplishing that end. Republican opponents argued that, in practical terms, no such number of police positions would be added to America's law enforcement agencies.
Democrats gained confidence as the day wore on. ``The best indication was when our Republican colleagues tried to delay the vote,'' Mitchell said.
Republicans, denying they were stalling, said the bill needed $5 billion cut from crime-prevention programs, which they called pork, and the addition of some get-tough provisions such as federal mandatory minimum penalties for state crimes involving guns and for drug transactions involving children.
The Democrats, however, accused them of acting for political purposes to deny the Democrats proper credit for a tough crime bill while trying to kill a ban on assault-style firearms.
``Do you want a crime bill or do you want to try to preserve the ability of people to have AK-47s and grenade launchers?'' asked Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del.
Amid some tough rhetoric, there was a light moment provided by Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., who, while standing on the Senate floor before a picture of a pink pig eating at a money-filled trough, sang to the tune of ``Old MacDonald:''
``With a chop, chop here, and a chop, chop there, chop that pork off everywhere. Then we'll have a bill that's fair, Ee-ay-ee-ay-oh.''
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., dismissed as ``totally phony'' GOP complaints that the bill wastes money on crime-prevention and leaves out vital law enforcement provisions.
``They're trying to shift this debate to give the impression that they're tougher on crime because they know this is the first serious crime bill to come along in 25 years and it's being proposed by Democrats,'' Kerry said. He called the Republican tactic a ``two-fer'' because killing the bill would also doom the firearms ban.
Memo: lede