Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation and thank Mr. Scott for yielding to me. I also want to thank the former attorney general from California, Dan Lungren, for working with me on this issue and Jim Sensenbrenner and others. Two decades ago, Congress responded to the addictiveness of crack cocaine, a terrible drug, and the violence it brought in its wake by establishing harsh mandatory sentences for possessing and dealing it. In supporting that policy, Congress also created a wide disparity, however, between crack cocaine and powder cocaine sentences--both addictive, both illegal. Possessing an amount of crack equal to the weight of two pennies has resulted in a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years. In order to receive a similar sentence for possessing a chemically similar powder, cocaine, one would have to be carrying 100 times as much cocaine. It has long been clear that 100-to-1 disparity has had a racial dimension as well, helping to fill our prisons with African Americans disproportionately put behind bars for longer. The 100-to-1 disparity is counterproductive and unjust. That's not just my opinion, but the opinion of a bipartisan U.S. Sentencing Commission, the Judicial Conference of the United States, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Police Organizations, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the International Union of Police Associations, and dozens of former Federal judges and prosecutors.…”