REPUBLICANS IN SENATE UNVEIL THEIR CRIME AGENDA

Government: The bill would impose tougher penalties for drug traffickers
and include millions of dollars in grants.

Washington- Millions of dollars in crime-fighting grants to local law
enforcement would be preserved and tougher penalties for drug
traffickers imposed under a $17.5 billion bill unveiled Friday, Senate
Republican said.

"It is based on what we know reduces crime," said Sen. Orrin Hatch,
R-Utah, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Hatch clashed with Attorney General Janet Reno last week on her
proposal to cut several anti-crime grants from her budget proposal.
Reno said crime was down significantly nationwide, and she wanted to
shift money to other priorities.

But Hatch said Friday that crime in the United States is still
"significantly high by historical standards," and violent crime rates
here remain the highest of any industrialized nation.

Much of the funding in Hatch's "21st Century Justice Act" is set aside
for grant programs that Reno wants eliminated, the chairman told reporters.

The programs in dispute are:

The Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Program, which congressional
Republicans first proposed in their 1994 election blueprint, the
"Contract With America." Since 1996, the program has provided more
than $1 billion a year to state and local governments for equipment
and technology.

Truth-in-sentencing grants, which would give states some $700 million
a year to build prisons to house violent and repeat criminals for at
least 85 percent of their sentences. Many states, Hatch said, already
have changed their laws to accommodate the program.

The Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grant, which would give
states $450 million a year to build detention centers, perform drug
testing and improve record-keeping for young offenders.