Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in the 1980s, as Representative Nadler said, Congress enacted harsh penalties for Federal drug offenses, including mandatory minimum sentences. In the 1986 act, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, it did create 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, meaning an individual convicted of selling 5 grams of crack cocaine would receive the same sentence as someone convicted of selling 500 grams of powder cocaine. Earlier, years before, Representative Dan Lungren--he had been here in the eighties--in 1986, when this was passed, said that Republicans were told in 1986--with a Democratic majority--by Representative Charley Rangel, that if they did not support the huge disparity, then they did not care about Black neighborhoods and the scourge that crack cocaine was creating and how it was ruining Black neighborhoods. So it easily passed because in 1986, no one wanted to be called a racist. This law contributed to the growth of the U.S. Federal prison population from the 1990s through 2000s. In 2010, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100:1 to 18:1. And as I recall, at the time, I thought it would be good to go 1:1; that is what we did in Texas when I was a judge. But if I recall correctly, there were some Republicans that said we can't go all the way to 1:1, but we will agree to 18:1.…”