Farmers Markets Infrastructure Assistance Act of 2007

One of the bills in this package that has been languishing for well over a year--and I think it is shameful that is, in fact, the case--is the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.

Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy from Chicago visiting his relatives in Money, MS, way back in 1955 when he was brutally mutilated and killed for whistling at a white woman. Remember, his courageous mother, wanting everyone to see the brutality of how her boy was killed, had an open casket. That open casket said it all.

The killers in this case, like so many others during that time, were never

punished for their violent, treacherous acts. However, by passing this Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act, the Justice Department will have the tools necessary to investigate and prosecute violations of the civil rights statutes in which the alleged violation occurred before January 1 of 1970 and resulted in death.

The bill has broad bipartisan support. I hope we can pass the House- passed bill. That way, the bill will be signed by the President immediately.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 237, H.R. 293, that the bill be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. McCaskill.) Is there objection?

That is right.

Reserving the right to object, I have a question for the majority leader. I understood from your statement that this does not have any of the changes we talked about, this is strictly the House- passed bill.

Reserving the right to object further, we will relook at what that is. I will object at this time and hope we can work out with the majority leader what we had discussed earlier in terms of a compromise.