Matt Salmon

Mr. SALMON

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Speaker, I did want to make one other comment. I know that in the last several years, one of the items of great controversy in this Congress, especially, I think, since I have been here in the last 5 years has been the U.N. arrearages. I might suggest that one of the reasons that people raised that red flag in the first place was because of issues like this, because the U.N. time and time and time again goes out and asserts itself and takes positions counter to the United States when we have been the largest financial supporter of that entity and have been for years and years and years, and many of our so-called allies, and I am not saying that about Israel because Israel votes with us, but many of our so-called allies end up spitting in our face; and these are allies that we have helped financially time and time and time again. I just might say that significant reforms have got to happen at the U.N., and this exactly points to what we are talking about.

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. SALMON

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I do not see this as a condemnation. I see this as thoughtful discussion. Because frankly, I think the gentleman would agree, there are no quick-fix solutions. This is a problem within our society that is going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of rolling up our sleeves, a lot of bipartisan work, a lot of work out in the trenches, in the churches, in the neighborhoods, in the families. Frankly, we ought to look at all options, all options. That is all I am asking. Let us not close our eyes simply because we want to defend one particular industry.

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to commend the gentleman from California. I agree with him. I think it would be despicable to condemn an entire industry for the actions of people. We have got to get to personal responsibility. I am so proud that the Democrats would never condemn an entire industry just based on the actions of people. And I am sure they will not do that when it comes up to the gun issue. Frankly, when the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson) asked me to come here and to talk about this, I said she was not going to need me. This is incredulous. A simple resolution calling on Hollywood to work with the Congress to work with the American people to help families to stave off the violence, not in a condemning way, to ask them to work with us. I told her you are not going to need me. My colleagues have to be brain dead to oppose this kind of amendment. Anybody who raises children, anybody who is not from some other solar system has got to understand that the impact of violence in the media is harming our children. And so, I appreciate this opportunity. But think with me, if my colleagues will, some of the things that impact the mind. Has anybody ever seen the bumper sticker ``Visualize World Peace''? Do my colleagues know why that sticker has so much impact? Because before we can realize anything, we have got to visualize it. Think about the golf videos. I took up golf a couple years ago with my son, and we rent these videos so we can perfect our golf swing because we visualize ourselves on the video taking that perfect swing and then we go out on the golf course and we realize it. Well, the same thing happens when we watch something over and over and over again. The Bible says, ``As a man thinketh, so is he.'' Unless my colleagues are brain dead or bought off, they cannot disagree with that. The fact is what we see has a direct impact with what we do. And if we immerse ourselves in it enough, soon we become desensitized. And, no, it does not make us do anything. I am not Flip Wilson saying, ``The devil made me do it.'' But the fact is, the more we see something, the more we become desensitized.

Mr. SALMON. I yield to the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. SALMON

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, there is nothing in this bill that suggests that we do away with parole by any stretch of the imagination. I think that the goals of the gentleman and my goals are the same. We want to do what is right by families. The fact is that 14,000 rapists, child molesters and murderers go on to reoffend every year and States are not doing a good job. I go back to the statistics, that the average time served for molestation, 4 years; 5 years for rape; 8 years for willful murder.

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, this is a pretty awesome time to be here. I am offering today, along with the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Smith), an amendment that is known as Aimee's Law. I would like to take a few moments to discuss why this is important to Americans, and how come a nationwide grass roots effort has worked towards its passage. First of all, I would like to reference this chart. According to the Department of Justice, the average time actually served by a rapist in this country and released from State prison is 5\1/2\ years; for molesting a child, 4 years; and for murder, 8 years. This is outrageous. It is unconscionable. We have to act today to change this. It is not as if these criminals are suddenly Boy Scouts after their release from prison. The recidivism rates for sex offenders are very high. I think most people agree, once a molester, always a molester. As the Department of Justice found in 1997, over the 3-year period following the prison release, an estimated 52 percent of discharged rapists and 48 percent of other sexual assaulters were rearrested for a new crime. Here is that statistic. Many of those go on to commit other sex offenses. Light sentences for today's most heinous crimes contribute to an epidemic of completely, yes, I said it, completely preventable crimes. Consider, each year more than 14,000 rapes, molestations, and murders occur every year by somebody who was let out of prison for committing that exact same crime. In some 1,700 of these cases, individual cross State lines and then reoffend again. We talk a lot about accountability in this Chamber. It is time to restore some accountability to States that release these dangerous predators into our neighborhoods. Aimee's Law would add an additional factor to the formula for distributing Federal crime funds to the States. Specifically, the amendment would provide additional funding to States that convict a murderer, rapist, child molester, if that criminal had previously been convicted of one of those same crimes in a different State. The cost of prosecuting and incarcerating that criminal would be deducted from the Federal crime assistance funds intended to go to the first State. In other words, the State that is irresponsible, lets the rapist, murderer, molester out and then they cross State lines and reoffend again, a portion would be taken away from their crime assistance funds and given to the new State, enough to cover the costs of incarceration, prosecution, and apprehension of that monster. A safe harbor would not require the funds transfer if the criminal has served 85 percent of his original sentence and if the first State was a truth-in-sentencing State, with a higher than average typical sentence for the crime. Aimee's Law, a bipartisan effort from day one, passed the Senate last week with a whopping 81 to 17 vote. Aimee's Law is enthusiastically supported by law enforcement and victims rights groups nationwide. Here is just a smattering of those who are supportive. The law enforcement community in particular, they understand the need for this legislation. They are in the trenches. They are fighting this fight every day. The Nation's largest police union, the national Fraternal Order of Police, representing some 250,000 brave police officers nationwide, has strongly backed this amendment and has appeared at all public events to help push for its passage. Their president has said, ``The bill addresses this issue smartly, without infringing on the States and without federalizing crimes.'' Among the other law enforcement groups that have endorsed the bill is the California Correctional Police Officers Association, and some of the others Members can see. Victims rights and child advocacy groups have also endorsed the bill, and made this one of the most important issues that they focus on: Child Help U.S.A., Klaas Kids Foundation, Kids Safe, Mothers Outraged at Molester, and the list goes on and on and on. From around the country, Americans have signed petitions, called our offices, and sent e-mails demanding passage of Aimee's Law. Even Dr. Laura is urging her 18 million listeners across America, and has been doing it all week, also including it on her web site, for a call to action on this particular piece of legislation. Mr. Chairman, this is Aimee Willard. I never met her. This legislation is named for her. But I have become very close with her through the passage of this legislation, and close with her family. Aimee was senselessly raped and murdered by a man who was let out of prison for serving 12 years for murder for killing somebody over a parking spot. If this man had served 85 percent of his sentence, Aimee Willard would still be alive today. Aimee was an all-American college athlete who wanted to work with children. We are never going to know all that we lost when she was taken from us, but we should do what we can to prevent others from enduring the same kind of pain and agony, and following her to a needlessly early grave. Many courageous victims and survivors have made extraordinary efforts to help me pass this bill. I cannot mention them all, but I wanted to list a few. Many of them came to Washington twice to support the bill and testify before the Subcommittee on Crime. There is Gail Willard, who lost her daughter, Aimee; Mark Klaas, who lost his daughter, Polly; Mary Vincent, a rape survivor; Fred Goldman, who lost his son, Ron; Mika Moulton, who lost her son Christopher; Trina Easterling, who lost her daughter Lorin; Jeremy Brown, a rape survivor; Louis Gonzalez, who lost his brother Ipollito; the Greishabers, who lost their daughter Jenna; the Pruckmayrs, who lost their daughter Bettina; the Schmidts, who lost their daughter Stephanie; and the list goes on and on, because again, that number is 14,000 rapes, murders, molestations, that occur each year by somebody let out of prison for doing exactly the same crime. Sadly, the list goes on and on and on. Too many victims, too much suffering. We have to do more, and we can do it today with passage of this amendment. Mr. Chairman, before I close, I wanted to express my heartfelt thanks to the survivors, the groups, and everyone else who has joined with me to fight this fight and to protect families. The gentleman from Florida (Chairman McCollum) deserves the lion's share of the credit for his fine leadership on this issue. I wanted to thank my staff for all their hard work. I would like to close with a couple of quotes. First of all, they are not from a famous leader, world leader, or a law enforcement official, but from the very heart of the problem. I want to quote a pair of child molesters whose despicable, unspeakable crimes cry out for justice. Mr. Chairman, there are more than 134,000 convicted sex offenders currently living in our neighborhoods, on probation or on parole right now in our neighborhoods. Let us hear from two of them scheduled for release. They have never met, but their message could not be more clear: ``I am terrified of being released, because I fear without counseling, I will molest more children. Since I don't want to return to prison, I would be forced to kill them.'' The next quote: ``I am doomed to eventually rape, then murder my poor little victims to keep them from telling on me. I might be walking the streets of your city, your community, your neighborhoods.'' Mr. Chairman, let us pass the amendment today and strike a blow against the revolving door of prisons, murders, and sexual predators.

Mr. SALMON. I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, we did have a very, very thorough hearing last year and this is not a surprise. We have been working on this for a year and a half. We did have a hearing before the Subcommittee on Crime, and frankly the Supreme Court has determined that for violent sex offenders the courts can hold somebody beyond their sentence. They can put them in security, but beyond that I am not prescribing how States deal with the parole issue. All I am saying is that a State ought to certify. Rather than play Russian roulette with somebody else's head, all I am saying is the State ought to be accountable. If a State is going to let somebody go, make sure that they are not going to reoffend again, and if they want to deal with that with a combination of counseling or parole or whatever the case may be, all I am trying to do is restore a modicum of accountability back to the States. If they want to address that for parole, that is their option.

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon). (Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the honorable gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the distinguished whip of the House of Representatives.

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot). (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire of the Chairman how much time remains?

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Cannon).

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller). (Mr. WELLER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Myrick).

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I think this really is a no-brainer, a common-sense amendment. This amendment has been a long time in the process. There are a lot of far greater people out there than I that have fought for this; and for them, please let us do it. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. SALMON

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I would like to compliment the gentleman from Oklahoma. While I know that the debate, as we go forward, might get just a little bit convoluted, we might begin that old discussion of apples and oranges, the fact is, the gentleman from Oklahoma recognizes this, that last year we made a solid, ironclad promise to the seniors in this country; and that was that we, as a Congress, would do everything within our power in a bipartisan way, both Republicans and Democrats, to protect the solvency of Social Security. The fact is, the gentleman from Oklahoma has recognized, I think, as many of us do, that within this total budgetary process, he sees that train wreck coming. The fact is, at the end of the day, after it is all done, if we fund government, if we fund the bureaucracies at the level that all of these proposals are coming in at, we will end up having to rob Social Security to cover up the difference. Frankly, I am not going to be a party to that. I know the gentleman has risked a lot to put forth, what, close to 100 amendments today because he believes so strongly in the sanctity, the sacredness of making that promise to the seniors in our country, the seniors in this land. Every amendment that he offers, you are going to hear arguments why the bureaucracy that they are defending is more important than the promise and the commitment, the sacred commitment, that we made to our senior citizens. Frankly, I am going to side with the gentleman from Oklahoma on this one.

Mr. SALMON

Mr. SALMON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).