Floor Statement- Conferrees to the Juvenile Justice Bill

Mr. President, I hope and expect that cloture will be invoked shortly. It is my understanding that we will then proceed to the appointment of conferees for the juvenile crime bill, which is something I have been working on with the Majority Leader for some time. I commend the Leader for his commitment to this bill, and I thank my colleague from New Hampshire for allowing the Senate to work its will.

I appreciate the arguments my colleagues have made and agree with much of what they said. But, in the end, the Senate and House have passed different juvenile crime bills, and it is a conference committee's task to reconcile those differences. It will be a difficult challenge since the Senate has an obligation to advocate for its position. Yet - at the same time - we must recognize that the House passed a bill which contains different cultural reform proposals, less spending, and no gun control provisions. In fact, the House defeated a separate gun control bill.

We must do our best to reconcile these bills. In the end, I hope and trust that this conference committee will produce a vehicle that the House, the Senate, and the President can support. If, however, some in positions of leadership and responsibility are unwilling to search for common ground and are content to simply politicize this issue, the chance to do something meaningful for our nation's children may slip through our hands. I hope that does not happen, and I hope that we can come together for the sake of our children.

Mr. President, I want to say yet again that this is one of the most important bills that Congress will consider this year. The Judiciary Committee has worked on juvenile crime legislation for more than two years. The Committee marked up the predecessor to S. 254 for nearly two months last Congress. And, as you are aware, Mr. President, the Senate spent two full weeks this Spring debating S. 254.

In 1997, juveniles accounted for nearly onefifth of all criminal arrests in the United States. Juveniles committed 13.5 percent of all murders, more than 17 percent of all rapes, nearly 30 percent of all robberies, and 50 percent of all arsons. In particular, schools are becoming more and more dangerous. Fifteen percent of students have reported being victimized at school. Additionally, more than half of the nation's public schools have reported that a crime had been committed on the premises.

Sadly, the killings at Columbine High School last spring are not an isolated event. Similar shootings have occurred in recent years at schools in Pearl, Mississippi, which left two dead, West Paducah, Kentucky, which left three dead, Jonesboro, Arkansas, which left five dead, Edinboro, Pennsylvania, which left one dead, and Springfield, Oregon, which left two dead.

S. 254 provides an infusion of funds to state and local authorities to combat juvenile crime and youth violence. While juvenile crime is largely a state and local issue, the federal government can play a valuable role in assisting the states to fight juvenile crime and violence through flexible block grants. S. 254 provides $1 billion a year to the States to fight juvenile crime and prevent juvenile delinquency. Specifically, S. 254 includes a $450 million Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grant to the States. States can use this grant to implement graduated sentencing sanctions; build detention facilities for juvenile offenders; drug test juvenile offenders upon arrest; and require juvenile offenders to complete school or vocational training, among other reforms. S. 254 also includes the "juvenile Brady" provision, which prohibits the possession of a firearm by persons who commit a violent felony as a juvenile and $75 million annually to help states upgrade juvenile felony records and provide school officials access to such juvenile felony records in appropriate circumstances.

In addition, S. 254 provides more than $500 million annually to the States for prevention programs, some of which are specifically targeted toward gangs in schools, and it extends the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund through 2005 to ensure adequate funding of administration of justice programs.

In closing, Mr. President, I hope that we can proceed to the appointment of conferees. This will give the us the opportunity to accomplish a great deal over the August recess, and it will give us the opportunity, I believe, to approve a conference report the week after Labor Day. It would be fitting for Congress to wrap up this historic juvenile crime legislation when America's children are returning to school from the summer recess.