Political Quotes

“I want to speak on behalf of the amendments offered by Senator Kennedy and myself to the FIRST STEP Act. I think many of the policies in this bill are deeply unwise to allow early release from prison--thousands of serious repeat and potentially violent felons over the next few months if this bill passes. Our amendments will not do much to solve that problem. They wouldn't solve some of the other problems of the bill which slash some of the minimum mandatory sentences on the front end of sentencing. However, they will fix the worst parts of this bill. I urge all of my colleagues to support them. Frankly, I don't understand why any Senator would oppose them. Let me talk about what these amendments will do. The first amendment will specifically exclude early release from prison for certain heinous criminals to be certain they are going to serve the full length of the sentence to which a jury and a judge sentenced them. Let me outline the crimes our amendment will cover and, therefore, prohibit from early release: coercing a child to engage in prostitution or any sexual activity, carjacking, assaulting a law enforcement officer, bank robbery, assisting Federal prisoners with jailbreak, hate crimes, and assault. The bill sponsors have said this bill will not allow early release from prison for violent felons or serious felons.…”