CDR: Democrats on "hate crimes" in Defense Department bill

Declan McCullagh declan at well.com
Fri Oct 6 10:05:01 PDT 2000



NEWS FROM THE HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt
October 6, 2000						     H-204, U.S.
Capitol
	
http://democraticleader.gov/

Gephardt Statement on Hate Crimes and Other Pending Legislation


	"In the last 24 hours, we've had three pieces of evidence that the
Republican leadership is not interested in acting on the priorities of the
American people.  In a flurry of legislative maneuvering, Republicans have
taken strong, sensible, bipartisan bills and they have tried to kill those
bills by putting forward weak, watered-down versions that do nothing for the
American people.

	"Last night, Republican conferees took a bipartisan, sensible hate
crimes bill and they eliminated it from the Department of Defense
Authorization bill.  Republicans seem determined to file a DOD bill that is
stripped of hate crimes, and their actions in the last 24 hours are an
affront not only to the American people, but to a clear majority in the
Congress.

	"Republicans defied the will of both Houses of Congress, denied the
American people a strong, sensible bill that would have given law
enforcement officers the enhanced tools they need to deal with horrible hate
crimes, and they prevented the country from sending a strong signal that we
as a society will not tolerate crimes committed against people simply
because of who they are.

	"This is a bipartisan bill.  The President has supported it for
years, the American people support it in overwhelming numbers, and both the
House and the Senate have voted in bipartisan fashion to include hate crimes
in the Department of Defense Authorization bill.

	"I will continue to fight with Senator Daschle, President Clinton,
and with my colleagues and all Americans who support this common-sense law,
and I still hope that we can pass this bill this year and accomplish
something meaningful for the American people.
	
	"Now, we've also had two other pieces of news in the last 24 hours
that points to a pattern; and, sadly, the story with re-importation and with
a Patients' Bill of Rights is similar to hate crimes.  First, I am deeply
disappointed that the Republican leadership has decided to defy the will of
the American people and short-circuit a bipartisan effort to craft effective
re-importation legislation that might have lowered drug prices for millions
of Americans.  Instead, Republicans went behind closed doors and came up
with an ineffective, partisan half-measure that serves the needs of the
pharmaceutical companies at the expense of the American people.

	"The Republican measure is full of loopholes that will allow
pharmaceutical companies to get around the new law.  It also sunsets after 5
years, so even if seniors did begin to see lower drug prices as a result of
this bill, that benefit will not last.  Republicans have once again chosen
the side of special interests over the people.  Democrats believe that all
seniors should have permanent, reliable help with the high costs of
prescription drugs, and we support effective, permanent re-importation
legislation as a step in that direction.  But the most important way to give
seniors the help they need is to enact an affordable, reliable, universal
Medicare prescription benefit.  Republicans have blocked that measure,
refusing, even, to let us bring it up on the floor for a vote.  Their action
on re-importation seems designed to distract us from the much larger issues
at hand.

	"I am just as troubled by a last-minute effort on a Patients' Bill
of Rights.  Here, once again, they have decided to abandon a bipartisan bill
and to seek political cover instead.  Today, Republicans proposed a weak
Patients' Bill of Rights that fails to give patients the protections they
need from their HMO companies.  The real Patients' Bill of Rights passed the
House one year ago tomorrow by a strong bipartisan margin, and it remains
the only bill that will actually do something meaningful for millions of
Americans.

	"Democrats will continue to fight for good, common-sense, bipartisan
bills that the American people want and that bipartisan majorities in
Congress support: hate crimes--a strong Patients Bill of Rights-permanent
re-importation legislation-and a Medicare prescription benefit that will be
always be there for seniors.  We will continue to work with all our
colleagues to accomplish something meaningful in the few short days we have
left."

#####

Contact: Laura Nichols/Sue Harvey (202) 225-0100
  





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