Jeff Flake: “That is creative accounting, to put it mildly. Here is the reality. The Congressional Budget Office has taken a look at…”

“That is creative accounting, to put it mildly. Here is the reality. The Congressional Budget Office has taken a look at this and has analyzed the impact of passing the Smarter Sentencing Act. It is true there will be costs incurred mainly because of benefits that are paid to people who are not in prison for so long, but the CBO estimated that in the first 10 years alone, our bill would save approximately $4 billion, for a net savings of about $3 billion. Those savings can be redirected to efforts to reduce and prevent crime in the first place. Senator Booker, I think it is partly because of this reason, the cost savings, that we have such broad support of the bill. Would the Senator discuss some of the groups that are supporting this legislation?”