GOP Threatens to Slow Down House Action on Crime Bills

With the House back in session this week, leading Republicans are threatening to use parliamentary guerrilla warfare to oppose a Democrat-sponsored package of crime bills embraced by President Clinton--legislation the GOP lawmakers call worse than none at all.

The partisan lines were clearly drawn Tuesday, with a final vote on the legislation only about a week away. The battleground for the opening skirmish was the House Rules Committee, where Republicans staged a mini-filibuster to protest the Democratic majority’s refusal to allow a floor vote on nine proposed GOP amendments.

Frustrated Republican lawmakers threatened to slow down consideration of the crime package by employing rarely used parliamentary procedures when debate on the bill begins today.

“We’re going to express to the public the outrage we feel,” said Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), a leading GOP spokesman on crime issues. “The bill out there is worse than no bill at all.”

But Democrats scoffed at their colleagues’ threat to delay passage of the crime legislation at a time when public concern over street violence is at a peak.

“People want us to get on with this bill and not talk it to death,” Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) said.

Republicans complained that the measure would interfere with implementation of the death penalty and prevent them from earmarking $10 billion for state prison construction.

They also contend that it would allocate $8 billion to what they call dubious federal programs intended to deter youngsters from crime.

“Democrats tout this as a tough crime bill, but actually, it is quite weak,” McCollum said. “Passing it in its present form would do more harm than good.”

Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a chief architect of the crime package, argued that Republicans were simply worried that the Democrats had taken an issue that once belonged to them.

“They’re afraid we Democrats have come up with a good, smart, tough bill,” he said, predicting that many Republicans ultimately would vote for it despite the outburst of partisanship.

But Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) speculated that some Democrats would find it difficult to support a crime bill that she said lets lawmakers appear to be fighting crime while failing to address its causes.

The legislation before the House--a package of 21 separate bills--includes $3 billion for prison construction, mandatory life sentences for certain repeat offenders and expansion of the federal death penalty.

It also would authorize funds for 50,000 more police officers and ban gun ownership or possession for almost everyone under age 18.

The Senate last year passed its own bill with more severe provisions, including one that would give the federal government jurisdiction over crimes committed with a gun.

Once the House bill is passed, a Senate-House conference would resolve differences and produce a compromise version that would have to be ratified by both chambers before it is sent to the President.