Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005

DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND STATE, THE JUDICIARY, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 07, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. King of Iowa). Pursuant to House Resolution 701 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 4754.

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk which I will not offer, but I would ask the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), the ranking member, if they would comment at the end of my comments.

My amendment would have increased money for ex-offender reentry by $50 million. It is unfortunate, Mr. Chairman, that our country has become the most imprisoned Nation on the face of the Earth per capita. We have about 2 million people in jails and penitentiaries in this country. Each year more than 600,000 of them return home to neighborhoods and communities. Many of them obviously have no place to go. Many of them have no programs to access.

Studies have suggested and have shown that if nothing happens with them, about 67 percent of them will have reoffended within a period of 3 years. About 53 percent of them will be back reincarcerated. In many States and localities, they cannot access jobs. For example, in my State, the State of Illinois, there are 57 job titles that an ex-offender cannot hold by State law without some kind of waiver. For example, an individual cannot cut hair, cannot get a license to be a nail technician, to be a cosmetologist, cannot work around any medical facility, cannot wash dishes in a nursing home or a hospital. So many of these individuals revert right back to whatever it was that got them incarcerated in the first place. That is, they are back on the streets in their neighborhoods hauling pills and thrills, nickles and dimes, whatever it is they have done to become a part of the underground economy.

It would seem to me that it would be far more cost effective if we were to create programs to facilitate their reentry back into society. Therefore, there is a need for far more resources to do so. I must confess I was hardened when I heard the President give his State of the Union address and suggested in that address that we needed to do something more for the more than 600,000 people who return each and every year from our Nation's jails and prisons.

Some communities are far more hard hit than others. Obviously, inner city communities that are severely depressed economically and rural depressed communities end up with the bulk of these individuals. Other communities may not feel them at all, but the reality is that if we want to have the opportunity to move freely throughout our Nation, throughout our country, then we have to do a more effective job of helping reclaim those individuals who have been incarcerated and are back trying to make a new life for themselves.

I would appreciate comments from the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Wolf) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), the ranking member.

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WOLF. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, in that particular instance, State law prohibits it. There are barriers, hundreds of them, to the successful re-entry of these individuals because many people have thought that the best way to handle crime was to have the most severe punishment for individuals that they could come up with. And many of those laws are still lingering on the books in many States throughout the Nation, and they too need to be revisited.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, in the book of Jeremiah it talks about justice, and I think the people need justice, but it also talks about righteousness and we have to deal with those. And perhaps there is an opportunity for the Committee on the Judiciary or we would be glad to maybe sometime have a hearing on that issue because I agree with everything the gentleman has said. And I have learned most of this really through Chuck Colson. We cannot just open the gate, allow a man to walk out, and expect him to have the opportunity to make it because he goes back to the same neighborhood, the same environment; and they need training. So as we move along, if we can work with the gentleman and do that. And the Portman-Souder bill, is the gentleman on there?

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, if we can work with him and help him, we will be glad to do that. And I appreciate his bringing up the amendment too.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WOLF. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his response.