Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science and Related Agencies for Fiscal Year 2006--Conference Report--Resumed

DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE AND JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006--CONFERENCE REPORT--Resumed -- (Senate - November 16, 2005)

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I rise today to voice my disappointment with respect to the funding level provided for Project Safe Neighborhoods in the fiscal year 2006 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations conference report.

The President's Project Safe Neighborhoods has been one of the most incredibly successful crime prevention programs in our Nation. And today, we passed appropriations with tragically low funding for this important program that has been highly effective at removing from our streets criminals who use guns to carry out their crimes.

When I was Attorney General of Texas, I joined with then Governor Bush to launch Texas Exile. That program, modeled after the effective Project Exile in Richmond, VA, also was extraordinarily successful--providing local prosecutors with the funds to get more than 2,000 guns off the streets and to issue more than 1,500 indictments for gun crimes, resulting in almost 1,200 convictions in its first 3 years of existence alone.

And when President Bush came to Washington, he built upon our success in Texas by making Project Safe Neighborhoods one of his top priorities and launching the Project Exile program nationally--providing badly needed resources to jurisdictions throughout the country to combat gun related crimes.

And in the short time this initiative has been up and running, the results have been astonishing. Project Safe Neighborhoods' prosecution, prevention and deterrence efforts have helped fuel historical lows in gun crime across America as well as a 30-year low in the violent crime victimization rate. Over the past 4 years, Federal gun crime prosecutions have increased by 76 percent--and virtually all of these criminals spend time in prison--for example, 94 percent in fiscal year 2004.

The administration has devoted over $1.3 billion to implement Project Safe Neighborhoods since its inception in 2001. These funds have been used to hire almost 200 new Federal prosecutors dedicated to gun crime and provide grants to hire approximately 540 new State and local gun prosecutors.

While I appreciate any effort this body might take to embrace fiscal discipline--I question the efficacy of choosing to cut a program that literally is saving thousands of lives nationwide and making our society increasingly safer just as we are seeing the significant successes resulting from it.

The additional Federal funding for these State and local gun prosecutors, as well as the associated community outreach efforts and other important initiatives are critical to the success of the program and to the national reduction of violent crime.

That is why I was so concerned when I learned of the shortfall in this funding. None of the $73,800,000 in grants for State and local governments requested by President Bush was included initially in either the House or Senate.

And I was not alone. Chairman SPECTER and Senators GRASSLEY, KYL, SESSIONS and COBURN from the Judiciary Committee as well as Senators SANTORUM and LUGAR joined me in requesting full funding for the program in a letter dated September 8, 2005.

And, I must thank my colleague from Alabama, Senator SHELBY, as well as fellow Texan, Congressman JIM CULBERSON, and their respective staffs, for their help in achieving at least a minimal amount of funding of $15 million that we were able to get into the conference report.

The Project Safe Neighborhoods program serves as a model of coordinated government efforts--with Federal, State and local governments sharing the burden of prosecuting criminals and coordinating their resources to do so. At a time when some Federal agencies struggle to coordinate efficiently with state and local governments--the Project Safe Neighborhoods program serves as a model of efficiency and effectiveness.

In closing, while I voted in favor of the appropriations conference report because of its many important programs--I remain committed to seeking full funding for Project Safe Neighborhoods next year and in the years to come and looking forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that we keep America's streets safe from violent gun-using criminals.

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