It is a great pleasure to be with you today as you launch this effort in the House of Representatives. I am also grateful to Kirk Bloodsworth for his courage and for his candor in sharing the unspeakable experience he has had through the failings of the criminal justice system.

As a group, those who have lent their support to this bill in these early stages of the legislative process are not all for or against capital punishment. But there are two things that the cosponsors of this bill DO tend to have in common: a willingness to venture into new legislative territory, and an ability to work on a bipartisan basis to get things done.

It is going to take a bipartisan effort to enact these reforms into law. Those supporting this bill are people who have learned enough about the way capital punishment is administered in our country to be concerned about it, and they are willing to support and work for common-sense solutions.

Congressman Delahunt has experience as a prosecu tor, as I do. Congressman LaHood has shown an ability to be a trailblazer. I commend you both for the great work you already have done to make this day possible.

I was one of many who called Governor Ryan after his announcement of the moratorium decision to congratulate him for his courage. All of us appreciate his willingness to lend support to our efforts to address these same problems on a national scale.

Illinois is one of only two states to enact legislation that guarantees post-conviction DNA testing in appropriate cases. When I began work on drafting death penalty reform legislation nine months ago, I drew upon Illinois’ experience and law.

Governor, you also deserve great credit for the next step you have taken in appointing such people as former Senator Paul Simon and Chicago attorney and author Scott Turow to your blue ribbon task force that will critique the administration of capital punishment.

Other governors may well follow Governor Ryan’s lead and audit their own capital punishment systems. I expect that will happen, and I certainly hope that it does, because real reform must take shape in state criminal justice systems. The Innocence Protection Act is a catalyst for reform, but it will take leadership in our state capitals to act on those reforms. Congress gives hundreds of millions of dollars to the States each year to spend on law enforcement, staff and prisons. States that choose to impose capital punishment must be prepared to foot the bill.

The American people fundamentally understand that not only does our criminal justice system succeed whenever we convict someone who is guilty; it also succeeds whenever an innocent person is exonerated. When it comes to the death penalty, we must have a zero tolerance for mistakes.

There is nothing abstract about this crisis and there is nothing abstract about how to solve it. We can prevent death row errors. And that is what we aim to do with this common-sense bill.

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