On the recordMarch 7, 2019
Madam Chair, let me commend the gentleman for his active participation in the First Step Act, the criminal justice reform. Let me commend him on his efforts to restore freedom to felons and, as he indicated, murderers and drug dealers and other kinds of criminals who he worked so hard to restore their right to freedom. This amendment deals with really low-hanging fruit in terms of criminal justice reform. It just says that, when the department has decided that someone has finished their term, when they have finished their sentence, when they are released, they would simply receive those instructions as to how to register to vote. If there is a pedophile--and I would have welcomed the gentleman's amendment--perhaps it can be part of the rules to say that you must vote by absentee ballot. Madam Chair, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), chairwoman of the committee.
