Political Quotes

“Mr. President, there are new reports that the majority leader is considering bringing to the floor the so-called Smarter Sentencing Act, and to bring it to finality. I rise again today to express my strong opposition to this bill and to argue against taking up the Senate's time to consider it. I will list several reasons. This country has experienced a tremendous drop in crime over the past 30 years. We have achieved hard-won gains in reducing victimization. More effective police tactics played a very significant role. Congress assisted with funds for law enforcement and mandatory sentencing guidelines to make dangerous offenders serve longer sentences. But after the Supreme Court applied novel constitutional theory, those mandatory guidelines were made advisory only. Federal judges then used their discretion to sentence defendants more leniently than the guidelines had called for. Today, the only tool Congress has to make sure Federal judges do not abuse their discretion in sentencing too leniently is mandatory minimum sentences. So bringing this bill would cut a wide range of mandatory minimum sentences by half or more. Those sentences include people convicted of manufacture, sale, possession with intent to distribute, and importation of a wide range of drugs, including heroin, cocaine, PCP, LSD, ecstasy, and methamphetamines.…”