Jeff Sessions

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I had a question: Could we reach a time agreement? We could certainly cut debate on any amendments from this side, I think, to a very short time, and then we ought to be able to reach a time agreement. The majority leader would allow this bill to come up and we could have the votes that the Senator would like to have, but we need an ending date. We cannot go on with the ``walking'' filibuster that puts all the agenda of this Congress on hold because of an unlimited time debate. Could we do that?

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Yes.

Mr. SESSIONS. I think the Senator from Minnesota and I will probably not agree on this, and I would want to respond to what he said.

Mr. SESSIONS. I will yield to the Senator from Utah.

Mr. SESSIONS. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. SESSIONS. This amendment simply says that with regard to the materials that can be printed--and we expect a lot of materials will be printed as a result of the almost $900 million-plus that will be going forward for juvenile crime programs--that those materials be accountable to the American people. I ask that we simply print on those materials a disclaimer that will note that this material was produced by the Federal Government. It would say, in fact, this: This material has been printed, procured or distributed, in the whole or in part, at the expense of the Federal Government. Any person who objects to the accuracy of the material, the completeness of the material, or to the representations made within the material, including objections related to the material's characterization of religious beliefs, are encouraged to direct their comments to the office of Attorney General of the United States. It further requires that the Attorney General designate one of her offices to receive the complaints, and to submit summaries of those complaints to the Congress, including the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, the majority leader, the Speaker, and minority leaders in the House and in the Senate. We believe this would be a unique opportunity to allow persons who are receiving materials funded by the Federal Government to express concerns and provide information that may make those materials better. In addition, we believe like it would allow the Congress to be able to monitor the material, because what so often happens--and most people may not even realize it--this Congress proposes funds and they go out to various organizations who print material that can be very helpful, and some of it is excellent. Some of it is not good. Periodically, we receive complaints on materials that go against deeply held views of Americans, and which are inaccurate. So this amendment would allow for a disclaimer on such materials. When people see it, they will know where to write. They would have a central place within the Department of Justice to receive it. Then they could, in fact, review the complaints and we could take steps to correct it. Mr. President, how much time do I have left?

Mr. SESSIONS. I thank the Chair and yield the floor. Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.

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

Mr. SESSIONS. I renew my offer of the Ashcroft amendment, I believe No. 348.

Mr. SESSIONS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that, notwithstanding the pendency of the motion to proceed, to offer this amendment on Senator Ashcroft's behalf.

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

Mr. SESSIONS. My question is, Is the Senator aware of just how much flexibility the prevention funds, that make up 55 percent of this bill, have to expend for the kind of program that he mentioned? It goes on for many pages. For example: One-on-one mentoring projects designed to link at-risk and juvenile offenders who commit serious crimes; provide for treatment of juvenile defendants who abuse alcohol or drugs; getting priority to juveniles who have been arrested; projects to provide leverage funds for scholarships; provide intake screening that may include drug testing; delinquency prevention activities that involve youth clubs, sports recreation, training, and so forth; family strengthening activities, such as mutual support groups for parents and children. It goes from about page 75 through 93, and it concludes item in 16, ``other activities likely to prevent juvenile delinquency.'' About 55 percent of the funds available here can be used for that. I think the Senator is correct that we really need to do a good assessment right there at the beginning--whether it be drug problems, mental health problems, or anger problems. I think this bill does more perhaps than the Senator realizes. I wonder if the Senator is aware of the breadth of some of the things we could spend the money on.

Mr. SESSIONS. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. SESSIONS. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I know the Senator from Minnesota believes strongly in what he is saying. I just want to respond in a couple of ways by saying this is a $1.5 billion bill of new spending, and over 55 percent of it is designed for prevention programs that can be used for many of the things about which the Senator is concerned. But it is not an education bill. I think that we do better if we are going to talk about 100,000 guidance counselors--which is a lot of money for that--that we need to talk about that in the Education Committee. The Senator from Minnesota is a member of that committee. We need to thrash it out. Maybe music would do better to reduce crime than hiring guidance counselors. Who knows? So I am not sure I can agree with his amendment as broad as he has suggested. The President of the United States has stated recently that he was not happy with the way Hollywood has gone about presenting violence, and he suggested that they need to do better. The Vice President has also suggested they need to do better. Then the President went out to Hollywood this past weekend to raise money from these very same people. The papers report that he raised $2 million from the ``glittering lights'' of Hollywood just over the weekend. And during that time he had an opportunity, in an intimate surrounding, to talk personally with the ``leading lights'' of that fair city. There have been a number of reports about it. I feel strongly about this. I have worked very hard for this piece of legislation, for over 2 years, and I have only been in this Senate for a little over 2 years. I was a Federal prosecutor and a State prosecutor for 17 years, and I think I know something about crime. I feel like I am sometimes in a different world. We are trying to bring forth a piece of legislation that can honestly strengthen the juvenile justice system in America, giving them opportunities and options to confront young people who are going on the wrong road and to direct them away from a life of crime. Even, Mr. President, your area there in Littleton, even those individuals, from my reading of the paper, had previously been arrested for rather serious offenses. The pattern all over America is that they are released immediately. The suggestion the Senator from Minnesota made that our jails are filled with nonviolent 11- and 12-year-olds is not accurate. We have 70,000 beds for young people today in America. That is a little over 1,000 per State. I am telling you, we have some serious crime. Adult bed spaces went up dramatically, and adult crime has gone down dramatically. But for young people, the juvenile bed spaces have not gone up much, whereas juvenile crime, serious, violent juvenile crime, murders, assault with intent to murder, armed robbery, those kinds of offenses have dramatically increased in the last 15 years. We have not responded adequately. We need a system in which, at their first offense, we have an intervention that occurs, serious intervention: Drug testing, is this child being driven to crime because of drugs; mental health assessment; prison, if need be; detention, if need be. But most times it will not be detention on that first offense. Most of the time it will be probation. Do we have just a paper probation where you come in once a month and report to your probation office and say: I haven't been arrested this week and I have been obeying all your laws? Or do you have a good intensive probation in which you go out and probation officers knock on the doors at night to see if they are abiding by curfews; they talk to their parents; to have counseling programs; maybe get them into mental health? It is already funded in most States--just get them into these mental health programs or treatment or counseling; maybe drug treatment is available. That is what a good criminal justice system does. If we care about these kids, that is what we need to do. The idea we are going to spend billions on programs that are not dealing with kids, who are really proven to be at risk, and not even strengthening our juvenile justice system so it can deal with the kids who are already getting in trouble with the law, strikes me as absolutely beyond the pale; it is through the looking glass; some sort of virtual reality.

Mr. SESSIONS. I will for a question.

Mr. SESSIONS. No. I did not say that. That is not what I meant.

Mr. SESSIONS. I ask the majority leader, what you are asking for is simply that we take the amendments we have and you need so you can manage this body, and a time when we are going to complete? Because under the rules of this body, one person can talk and talk for days on one amendment, isn't that correct?

Mr. SESSIONS. I think that is a realistic request. I have to say, I have seen this debate for a long time. I believe there is a group on the other side that wants no bill. I believe they don't want this bill to pass. I believe if we get this bill up it will pass. And I am very upset about it. I know Senator Hatch has done such tremendous work for it.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess under the previous order.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, the Senate will resume debate on the motion to proceed to the Y2K bill at 9:30 a.m. with the vote on invoking cloture occurring at 9:45 a.m. Following the special order, it is the intention of the leader to return to debate on the motion to proceed to S. 96. However, attempts may be made to come to a final agreement on the juvenile justice bill so that the Senate can complete action on that bill in a reasonable timeframe. Therefore, rollcall votes can be expected during tomorrow's session of the Senate. As always, Members will be notified accordingly as any votes are ordered.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess from the hours of 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly policy conferences to meet.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that if the cloture is not invoked, the Senate then proceed to morning business for 60 minutes under the control of Senator Helms for a special order in memory of Adm. Bud Nance, for his dedication to the Senate and to our country. And I ask that following that time, the Senate return to the debate on the motion to proceed to S. 96.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today it stand in recess until the hour of 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 18. I further ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday immediately following the prayer the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then resume debate on the motion to proceed to S. 96, the Y2K bill with the time until 9:45 equally divided.

Mr. SESSIONS

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, on behalf of the majority leader, I ask unanimous consent that the committees have until 6 p.m. to file any reported legislation.