Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today is a good day for representative government, it is a good day for the taxpayers, and it is a good day for safe streets and strong families. It is also a good day to emphasize that many times Congress acts in a bipartisan way, and probably not enough so we get credit for it. But last night, one of these bipartisan pieces of legislation passed by a vote of 87 to 12. That happened when the Senate adopted the FIRST STEP Act. Today, the House is expected to send it to the President, who is waiting with a pen in hand to enact once-in-a-generation criminal justice reform. I am confident that the President is ready to do that because I attended the news conference about 5 weeks ago when he endorsed this legislation. The FIRST STEP Act will help keep our streets safe, and it offers a fresh start to those who put in the work when they were in prison to get right with the law while paying their debt to society. It also addresses unfairness in prison sentencing and revises policies that have led to overcrowded prisons and, of course, ballooning taxpayer expenses. Several decades ago, Congress passed well-intentioned laws imposing harsh mandatory sentences to stop the flow of drugs into our communities, and it happened that I voted for those laws, but they have also had some unintended consequences. Our prison population has exploded, and the taxpayers' burden to house inmates has followed suit.…”