Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the Hughes amendment to require the U.S. Sentencing Commission to conduct a study on the disparity in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine. People convicted of crack cocaine offenses are punished 100 times more severely than those convicted of powder cocaine offenses. And, to no one's surprise--91 percent of those sentenced for crack are African-American. Yet the majority of people who use crack every day are white--64.4 percent. Simple possession of over 5 grams of crack is a felony and mandates an automatic sentence of 5 years for a first-time offender. Possession of 5 grams of powder is a misdemeanor, and requires only 10 months probation. This is absolutely outrageous. The impact of this on the black community is enormous. We already know that 23 percent of young black men are caught up in the criminal justice system: on probation, on parole, or in prison. There are more young black men in prison today than there are in college. One of the many new death penalties that we have created in this crime bill is for nonhomicidal drug kingpins. As a result, it will take 300 kilograms of powder cocaine to trigger the death penalty; but only 3 kilograms of crack. Therefore, we have mandated a racially discriminatory death penalty. The Hughes amendment will permit us to get a thorough evaluation of this disparity--and then to take action accordingly. Support the Hughes amendment.”