Senate Judiciary Committee advances criminal justice reform bill

The Senate Judicial Committee advanced a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill backed by Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, despite opposition from Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

Feb. 16 (UPI) — The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced bipartisan legislation seeking to reform the criminal justice system Thursday.

The committee voted 16 to 4 in favor of advancing the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act focused on lessening the impact of mandatory minimum prison sentences.

The bill, backed by Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, reduces mandatory minimum penalties for nonviolent repeat drug offenders, eliminates the three-strike mandatory life in prison rule and gives judges discretion to sentence certain low-level offenders below the 10-year mandatory minimum.

It also creates new mandatory minimum sentences for crimes involving interstate domestic violence providing weapons and other defense materials to prohibited countries and terrorists as well as a five-year sentencing increase for trafficking heroin laced with fentanyl.

Addressing prison reform, the bill would also enact provisions of the Corrections Act, which calls for he Bureau of Prisons to implement a new approach to re-entry and anti-recidivism programs for prisoners.

Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn of Texas co-sponsored the bill the last time it was considered by the committee in 2015, but called for Senators to vote down the bill in favor of focusing on prison reform.

“I believe, as I said last week, that’s a subject upon which I think we can get a presidential signature and pass it into law,” Cornyn said.

Prior to the vote Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote a letter to Grassley, obtained by CNN, stating the Department of Justice opposes the bill and warning it would increase violent crime and hamstring federal law enforcement.

“Passing this legislation to further reduce sentences for drug traffickers in the midst of the worst drug crisis in our nation’s history would make it more difficult to achieve our goals and have potentially dire consequences,” Sessions wrote.

Grassley expressed frustration at Sessions’ comments while referring to the attorney general as a friend.

“I’m really irritated that he would send that letter considering the fact that he was very controversial before this committee to be attorney general, considering that most of the assistant attorney generals have been sent up here have been very controversial and difficult to get through this committee, considering the fact that the President was going to fire him last spring and I went to his defense,” Grassley wrote. “I don’t think that’s something that somebody should do to friends.”

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