Senators plan to revive sentencing reform push

Senators plan to revive sentencing reform push

  0

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley says he’s not done yet pressing a cause with broad bipartisan support.

From Politico. By

Criminal justice reform — the great bipartisan hope of 2016 that ended in disappointment — may not be dead just yet.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) plans to take up a bill to revamp U.S. sentencing laws and reform prisons soon after his panel clears the high-profile nominations from Donald Trump. A similar measure passed his committee overwhelmingly last year before stalling out in the face of opposition from law-and-order conservatives.

But Grassley told POLITICO he will soon try again.

“The committee will begin the year working through the attorney general and Supreme Court nominees, but criminal justice reform will be one of the legislative bills I plan to bring up early on,” he said in a statement. “It cleared the committee with a broad bipartisan majority in the last Congress, and I don’t expect that to change.”

…

Criminal justice reform could’ve been one of the bright, bipartisan spots in an otherwise contentious election year. But despite support from President Barack Obama, powerful congressional Republicans, and a sprawling network of groups from the left and right, the legislation never made it to the floor. That was partly due to the determined efforts of law-and-order conservatives to steamroll it — and there’s little to suggest that if the legislation heads to the Senate floor, that dynamic would change.

Nevertheless, Durbin approached Grassley after the election and pressed the chairman about whether the duo should make another run at it this year, Durbin recalled in a recent phone interview.

Grassley was in. And once the chairman tees up the bill this year in his committee, its supporters expect a bipartisan vote similar to the 15-5 tally it received in October 2015.

…

Earlier this year, the bill’s chief authors rolled out changes meant to appease criticism from some GOP lawmakers that the legislation could inadvertently reduce sentences for violent offenders. That drew additional co-sponsors from both parties.

But the changes weren’t enough to satisfy opponents, whose ranks are smaller but just as persistent and vocal. In particular, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has argued that the legislation, even with the revisions, risks prematurely freeing violent criminals and drug traffickers and warned that it is the “victims of crime who will bear the costs of this dangerous experiment in criminal leniency.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also opposes the bill, though he has been much more muted with his objections.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is rarely eager to take up policy fights that divide his conference — and Democrats point a finger at him as a prime reason why criminal justice reform stalled last year.

…

The president-elect ran on a law-and-order platform, but Trump doesn’t appear to have weighed in on the Senate measure during his campaign.Another wildcard factor is Sessions, Trump’s pick to become the attorney general. As a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was a fervent opponent of the sentencing overhaul and one of the five votes against it.

But Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another supporter of the criminal justice reform effort, speculated that once Sessions becomes the attorney general, his chief objective will be on enforcing what Congress sends him — even if he disagrees with it — rather than slipping into the role of legislator and try to change the laws.

…

“I know we have enough votes to send this to the president’s desk,” Tillis said. Stressing his desire to avoid legislative gridlock, Tillis added: “The election was not a Republican mandate. The election was a results mandate.”

Read entire article