4/6/94

Crime Bill Update from FAMM -- One Week to Act

The following information was obtained from the F.A.M.M (Families Against Mandatory Minimums) hotline, (703) 685-6860. F.A.M.M. can be reached at (202) 457-5790.

H.R. 3979, the proposed safety-valve amendment to the House's Crime Bill, would exempt some non-violent drug offenders from the mandatory minimum sentences, including retroactively. Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-NY) is trying to block this amendment from getting through the Rules Committee. Please call or fax Rep. Solomon's office and tell him you want the safety-valve amendment to pass. His numbers are:

(202) 225-5614 Washington
225-1168 (fax)
(518) 587-9800 New York
587-1228 (fax)

Rep. Hughes (D-NJ), has proposed an amendment which would equalize sentencing for crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Currently, sentences for crack (used mainly by blacks) are longer than sentences for powder cocaine (used mainly by whites).

To support these two amendments, you can call the members of the Rules Committee, listed below. In particular, you can call the Rules Committee chairman, John Moakley (D-MA). His numbers are:

(202) 225-8273  (Washington), and 

(617) 565-2920  (Massachusetts).

Also please call your own representative, and ask him or her to support these amendments, (and add that you would prefer that he or she oppose the Crime Bill as a whole). Note that my last email before this one contains several other amendments worth supporting or opposing, including the Watt amendment to strike the drug-trafficking death penalties from the legislation, the Frank amendments, to exempt marijuana from those penalties, and to remove non-violent drug offenses from qualifying for the "Three-Strikes You're Out" legislation, the Washington amendment, to eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing (support all these), and the Solomon amendments, which increase various marijuana penalties (oppose these).

Rules Committee:

Committee member                State   Phone           Fax

* Rep. Joe Moakley, Chair       MA      (202)225-8273   (202)225-3984 

Rep. Butler Derrick             SC      (202)225-5301   (202)225-5383 

Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson       CA      (202)225-5911   (202)225-0092 

Rep. Martin Frost               TX      (202)225-3605   (202)225-4951 

Rep. David E. Bonior            MI      (202)225-2106   (202)226-1169 

Rep. Tony P. Hall               OH      (202)225-6465   (202)225-6766 

Rep. Alan Wheat                 MO      (202)225-4535   (202)225-5990 

Rep. Bart Gordon                TN      (202)225-4231   (202)225-6887 

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter        NY      (202)225-3615   (202)225-7822 

* Rep. Gerald Solomon           NY      (202)225-5614   (202)225-6234 

Rep. James H. Quillen           TN      (202)225-6356   (202)225-7812

Rep. David Dreier               CA      (202)225-2305   (202)225-4745 

Rep. Porter J. Goss             FL      (202)225-2536   (202)225-6820

If you like what you see here and want to get these bulletins by e-mail, please fill out our quick signup form at http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.

Crime Bill Update from FAMM -- One Week to Act

Return to Rapid-Response-Team Chronological Listing