Louie Gohmert: “We also have had mention tonight of efforts toward what some call sentencing reform. I was honored back in 2007 to get a…”

“We also have had mention tonight of efforts toward what some call sentencing reform. I was honored back in 2007 to get a call from a man that I think the world of, former Attorney General Ed Meese. Apparently he had heard of my concerns about some of the Federal criminal laws that needed to be changed; that we had too many people in America who were being harassed and their lives or their families destroyed by Federal criminal law that allowed people to be prosecuted for violating, not a law that Congress had passed, but some regulation that some cubicle-holder had decided would be a good thing to do. Unelected bureaucrats in Washington decided we will make this a regulation, and since Congress passed a law saying you have to follow all the laws and rules regarding this issue, we fall under the rules and regulations; therefore, they can go to prison for failing to do what we, as unelected bureaucrats in Washington, decided that someone somewhere we have never been must do. So I was greatly in favor and encouraged to hear of the interest from the Heritage Foundation, former Attorney General Ed Meese, to pursue criminal justice reform. We have had difficulty moving that forward, and I greatly appreciate the leadership of Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte. We have been able to get through some criminal justice reforms that I have been hoping to see passed since 2007.…”