The Sanders campaign has grown increasingly negative as the New York primary election looms closer. During tonight’s CNN Democratic debate, Bernie Sanders lambasted Hillary Clinton for supporting President Clinton’s 1994 Crime Bill, but refused to acknowledge his vote for that same bill. Senator Sanders’ hypocritical, negative attacks and misrepresentation of the facts fracture the foundation of the positive campaign he promised to run.
Senator Sanders owes it to the American voters to run an honest campaign, and he should start by telling the truth about his own record.
Bernie Sanders voted for the 1994 Crime Bill. On August 21, 1994, Bernie Sanders supported adoption of the conference report to authorize $30.2 billion over six years and to require that all spending authorized by the bill come from a six-year, $30.2 billion crime trust fund realized from eliminating 270,000 federal jobs. The bill would authorize $6.9 billion for crime prevention programs, such as after-school sports leagues and job training programs, $8.8 billion for community policing programs and the hiring of 100,000 new police officers, and a $7.9 billion grant program to build state and local prisons. The bill also would ban 19 specific assault weapons, expand the death penalty to dozens of new federal crimes, mandate life imprisonment without parole for three-time violent felons, provide for community notification of violent sex offenders, allow prior sex offenses to be admitted in federal trials and require HIV testing when requested in federal rape trials. Note: A ‘yea’ was a vote in support of the president’s position. Adopted 235-195: D 188-64 (ND 141-31, SD 47-33); R 46-131; I 1-0. [HR 3355, Vote #416, 8/21/94; CQ Floor Votes, 8/21/94]