Orrin Hatch

Mr. HATCH

Mr. HATCH. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. HATCH. Will the Senator yield for that?

Mr. HATCH. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. HATCH. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. HATCH. Is the Senator aware this bill will help with some of the things about which he is concerned? In fact, all of them. With the Senator's indulgence, this is the fifth day we have been on a bill that should have been passed on the third day or second day. There is not a thing in this bill, to my knowledge, that most people on this floor would not want to protect our children and our society and our families. We have all kinds of past illustrations where monumental bills have been done in fewer than 5 days. Tomorrow will be the sixth day we have been on this bill. This is not that controversial a bill. There are some controversial parts to it, and we have been working in an evolutionary way to deal with those. I think the distinguished Senator knows I have worked hard to accommodate my colleagues on the other side as well as my colleagues on this side, and there are wide disparities with regard to the gun problem. I do not blame the majority leader. He has a job to do. We have the Y2K bill that is critical for the software industry in this country. It is critical to the court system of this country. It is critical to civil justice in this country. It is critical to our dominance in intellectual property. And I can go on and on. We have the bankruptcy bill that probably is not going to come up now because we do not have time to bring it up, and that is absolutely critical to this country. We have the supplemental appropriations bill. The majority leader is right, it is not an itty-bitty, normal supplemental appropriations bill with which everybody is happy. It is one that has a lot of components to it. We have the Department of Defense authorization. We have our young men and women waiting for us to back them up. I think the majority of people here want to do that. I find no fault with the distinguished Senator anguishing over things that he believes are very important. I do, too. But this bill will move toward solving those problems as well. They may not be solved in exactly the identical way the distinguished Senator from Minnesota wants them solved, but this bill makes a lot of inroads in helping in these areas about which he is concerned. For the first time, in my recollection, we have both sides together at least giving more money for prevention purposes, for which the distinguished Senator from Minnesota fights so hard, than we do on the accountability or law enforcement side. I have worked hard to get that done because I believe in both sides. The distinguished Senator has indulged me to make these comments. I do not blame the majority leader, and I know a lot of very important bills passed in 2 days, let alone 5 or 6. Frankly, this is not one that should be delayed even 1 minute longer. There are sincere amendments. That is why we are here. I appreciate the willingness of my friend from Minnesota to present at least three of those amendments today. I do not think there is any desire for this side to take unfair advantage. There is a desire to move forward the work of the Senate, and there is a point beyond which the majority leader cannot go. We absolutely know there are some people in the Senate who really do not want this bill, who really want political advantage more than they want a bill. Frankly, I am not one of them. I am one who wants this bill. I think it is time to get it; that is why we are here. I appreciate my colleague extending me this courtesy to make these comments. It is important to move ahead. It is important we get this done by tomorrow night, and I hope we can. There will come a time when this bill manager is going to become exasperated enough that I will move to table every amendment that comes up, and I hope my colleagues will support me in that. There comes a time when deleteriousness and slowing down and repeating what we are trying to do in this bill--only getting our particular views other than what the bill says when it already does those things, we will have had enough of that. I warn everybody that I am reaching that point. I am not there yet, but I am going to get there. If we cannot get this done by tomorrow night and we take the chance of losing this bill because of 40 amendments when we have done everything in our power to whittle ours down by the end of this day--we will have 3 or 4 amendments left, maybe fewer than that--then I think this sends a message.

Mr. HATCH. Let's proceed this way. Let's have the Senator from Alabama present the amendment on behalf of Senator Ashcroft. He will take about 2 to 3 minutes to do that. And then let's resolve the problem of the Senator from Minnesota.

Mr. HATCH. I ask unanimous consent that the distinguished Senator be granted 10 more minutes on his amendment and then we go to the Senator from Alabama for 10 minutes.

Mr. HATCH. Is this the amendment you gave us before?

Mr. HATCH. On domestic violence.

Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I have listened to the Senator on his last amendment. Our bill does exactly what the Senator from Minnesota suggests in his amendment. This bill already does that. A core purpose of the accountability block grant is, from page 225 of the bill: ``The coordinated delivery of support services for juveniles who are at-risk for contact with the juvenile criminal system.'' That is exactly what the Senator from Minnesota is suggesting with this amendment. That is a point that I am making. We are repeating things that we have already long thought out for more than 2 years while we formulated this bill. And so I think it is very important that we realize we can beat these things to death when we already have considered what he wants. We may not have considered it exactly the way he wants it, but it is certainly part of this bill. I commend him for having the feelings that he does and for being sincere about those feelings. But we are, too. We have worked on this bill, and we think we have covered most of the components of the amendment of the distinguished Senator. On the other hand, where they are too expensive or don't work, we have considered them, but the bill has a better approach. Be that as it may, I admire the Senator for his sincerity. We will have to vote on the amendment and see what happens. Amendment No. 360 (Purpose: To encourage States to incarcerate individuals convicted of murder, rape, or child molestation)

Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. HATCH

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. HATCH

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, the Hatch-Craig amendment is an amendment that corrects a number of problems in this particular bill that people have complained about that we believe need to be corrected, but we also do a number of other things as well. We have more aggressive prosecution of violent minors who are going to continue to do violence unless we pass the accountability and the prevention efforts in this bill. It has enhanced penalties for the use of firearms, something that we need. It is probably the only thing that is going to make a real difference with regard to firearms. That is important. The amendment has increased maximum penalties for the use of firearms, and that is important as well. It has expanded protection for children. For instance, we have the juvenile Brady bill within the underlying bill, but we are passing it again so everybody will know that all of this complaining by those who have tried to defeat this bill is just political posturing. The fact is we are going to prevent any juvenile who has used a gun in the commission of a crime from ever having a gun henceforth. That is the juvenile Brady bill. Last, but not least, we are expanding the background checks. A couple of days ago Senator Craig tried to do a voluntary background check with incentives, which was a step forward in resolving this issue. However, the Democrats wanted a very bureaucratic, very Government-oriented bill to do these background checks. The Hatch-Craig amendment provides for mandatory background checks and provides for more background checks than the Democratic alternative. We have a more stringent amendment than what the Democrats came up with, and we have offered this amendment in order to try to resolve the animosities and the problems that have existed on this gun show issue. Last, but not least, I may get a little uptight with people who try to make the whole juvenile justice issue an issue about guns. Guns may be a part of it, and there is no question they are, and we are doing the things that are right with regard to guns. However, anyone who tries to reduce all of these juvenile justice problems in our society to guns is not only exaggerating but they are misreading the American people. The people realize that juvenile justice encompasses a lot more than just gun issues.

Mr. HATCH

Mr. HATCH. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. HATCH. I am trying to work out the details to see if we can proceed with the Senator's amendment. If the Senator will give me a little bit more time, I will see if we can get that worked out.

Mr. HATCH. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I understand we will have time to debate this more at a future time. This amendment, which I am pleased to offer with the Senator from California, Senator Feinstein, is a much refined version of legislation we offered last Congress to address the serious and troubling issue of interstate and juvenile gangs. I want to commend Senator Feinstein for her hard work and dedication on this issue. Our amendment includes improvement to the current federal gangs statute, to cover conduct such as alien smuggling, money laundering, and high-value burglary, to the predicate offenses under the penalty enhancement for engaging in gang-related crimes, and enhances penalties for such crimes. It criminalizes recruiting persons into a gang, with tough penalties, including a four year mandatory minimum if the person recruited is a minor. It amends the Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. 1952, to include typical gang offenses in its predicate acts. It includes the James Guelff Body Armor Act, which provides penalty enhancements for the use of body armor in the commission of a federal crime. This provision also prohibits the purchase, possession or use of body armor by anyone convicted of a violent felony, but provides an affirmative defense for bona fide business uses, and enhances the availability of body armor and other bullet-proof technology to law enforcement. It includes penalties for teaching, even over the Internet, how to make or use a bomb, with the knowledge or intent that the information will be used to commit a federal crime. Finally, our amendment enhances penalties under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, 18 U.S.C. 43, to address the growing problem of attacks on businesses and research facilities, as well as establishes a clearinghouse to track such offenses. These crimes are increasingly being committed by some juvenile gangs, particularly in my state of Utah. Gangs are an increasingly serious and interstate problem, affecting our crime rates and our youth. A 1997 survey of eighth graders in 11 cities found in 1997 that 9 percent were currently gang members, and that 17 percent said they had belonged to a gang at some point in their lives. These gangs and their members are responsible for as many as 68 percent of all violent crimes in some cities. My home state of Utah continues to have a serious gang problem. In 1997, there were over 7,000 gang offenses reported to the police in Utah. Although we have seen some improvement from the unprecedented high levels of gang crime a couple of years ago, gang membership in the Salt Lake area has increased 209 percent since 1992. There are now about 4,500 gang members in the Salt Lake City area. Seven hundred and seventy of these, or 17 percent, are juveniles. During 1998, there were at least 99 drive-by shootings in the Salt Lake City area. Also, drug offenses, liquor offenses, and sexual assaults were all up significantly over the same period in 1997. And in the first 2 months of 1999, there were 14 drive-by shootings in the Salt Lake City area. An emerging gang in Utah is the Straight Edge. These are juveniles who embrace a strict code of no sex, drugs, alcohol, or tobacco, and usually no meat or animal products. Normally, of course, these are traits most parents would applaud. But these juveniles take these fine habits to a dangerous extreme, frequently violently attacking those who do not share their purist outlook. There are 204 documented Straight Edgers in Salt Lake City, with an average age of 19 years old. Like most gangs, they adopt distinctive clothing and tattoos to identify themselves. Although not all Straight Edgers engage in criminal activities, many have become very violent prone. They have engaged in coordinated attacks on college fraternities, and a murder outside the Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake City last Halloween night was Straight Edge related. This crime, in which a 15-year-old youth named ``Bernardo Repreza'' occurred during a gang-related fight against the Straight-Edgers. Three Straight Edge gang members, have been charged with the murder. Straight Edgers are also being recruited into, and more frequently linked to, the radical animal rights movement. For instance, in 1996, Jacob Kenison, then 16 and a Straight Edger, became so obsessed with animal rights that he set fire to a leather store and released thousands of animals from two Salt Lake County mink farms. In 1997, Kenison was charged in federal court for buying an assault rifle without disclosing he had been charged in state court. In December 1998, Kenison, now 20 years old, was sentenced to 9 months in jail for the mink release. The juveniles who committed the firebombing of a Murray breeders' co-op may have been Straight Edge, and have been linked to the Animal Liberation Front, a loose network of animal rights activists which advocates terrorist-like tactics. And these gangs are learning some of their tactics on the Internet, which is why our amendment includes a provision making illegal to teach another how to make or use an explosive device intending or knowing that the instructions will be used to commit a federal crime, has passed the Senate on at least three separate occasions. It is time for Congress to pass it and make the law. Sites with detailed instructions on how to make a wide variety of destructive devices have proliferated on the Internet. As many of my colleagues know, these sites were a prominent part of the recent tragedy in Littleton, Colorado. Let me give my colleagues an example of one of these sites. The self- styled Animal Liberation Front has been linked to numerous bombings and arsons across the country, including several in my home State of Utah. Posted on their Internet site is the cyber-publication, The Final Nail #2. It is a detailed guide to terrorist activities. This chart shows just one example of the instructions to be found here--in this case, instructions to build an electronically timed incendiary igniter--the timer for a time bomb. And how do the publishers intend that this information will be used? The suggestion is clear from threats and warnings in the guide. One page in the site shows a picture of an industry spokeswoman, warning her to ``take our advice while you still have some time: quit your job and cash in your frequent flier points for a permanent vacation.'' Now, on this chart, which comes from The Final Nail #2, we have redacted the spokeswoman's address and phone number to protect her privacy. The publishers weren't so considerate. And this is just the beginning. This same document has a 59 page list of targets, complete with names and addresses from nearly every U.S. State and Canadian province. Let there be no mistake--the publishers know what they're doing. For instance, the instructions on how to make milk jug firebombs comes with this caution: ``Arson is a big time felony so wear gloves and old clothes you can throw away throughout the entire process and be very careful not to leave a single shred of evidence.'' It is unfortunate that people feel the need to disseminate information and instructions on bombmaking and explosives. Now perhaps we can't stop people from putting out that information. But if they are doing so with the intent that the information be used to commit a violent federal crime--or if they know that the information will be used for that purpose, then this amendment will serve to hold such persons accountable. Unfortunately, kids today have unfettered access to a universe of harmful material. By merely clicking a mouse, kids can access pornography, violent video games, and even instructions for making bombs with ingredients that can be found in any household. Why someone feels the need to put such harmful material on the Internet is beyond me--there certainly is no legitimate need for our kids to know how to make a bomb. But if that person crosses the line to advocate the use of that knowledge for violent criminal purposes, or gives it our knowing it will be used for such purposes, then the law needs to cover that conduct. Mr. President, the Hatch-Feinstein Federal Gang Violence Act incorporated in this amendment is a modest but important in stemming the spread of gangs and violence across the country and among our juveniles. I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator Feinstein and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. HATCH. I think I can explain the Feinstein amendment in probably less than 10 minutes.

Mr. HATCH. I think very little time. I feel badly that Senator Feinstein is not here. She may want to say a few words right before the amendment comes up for a vote. We will offer some time there.

Mr. HATCH. Yes.