Congressman Cohen Rises in Support of H.R.1592

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chairman, I am proud to stand in support of this bill. The fact is, these crimes, the victims of which have been Matthew Shepard, James Byrd, Emmett Till over the years have shocked the conscience of this country, and that is why they need special treatment.

When you look at the laws and the type of activities that we are looking at, discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, or disabilities, you are looking at the same people that the Nazis tried to exterminate. If you were Jewish, if you were black, if you were disabled, if you were gay, the Nazis made a systematic attempt to eliminate you. And people who do that, even if they are not governments, should be punished, because that is the type of conduct that this world has seen and abhors and went to war for; and our U.S. attorneys should be given the ammunition to go to war against people that perpetrate those type of crimes.

And if you stand against this, what's going to happen? Certain villainous hooligans will maybe get less time. These are the people we need to lock up and put away, because this is a country about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and everybody gets an opportunity.