What has happened to the growth in healthcare costs since the passage of ACA?

I look forward to your testimony.

We have a unique moment, a bipartisan momentum for true, I mean, true reform, and it is ours to seize.

We must do better, and we can. We cannot stand by while these alarming disparities and destructive cycles persist generation after generation.

The State Justice Act just introduced by Representatives Sensenbrenner and Bobby Scott is a good example of legislation that would reduce the flow of inmates in a responsible way.

My time in prison reaffirmed my belief that the only way Congress can improve public safety while reducing costs is to reform Federal sentencing laws, especially mandatory minimum sentences.

So while some people absolutely deserve prison time, our goal should be to give them as little as necessary to accomplish the purposes of sentencing.

It incorporates the work of the Over-Criminalization Task Force.

The only way that I think that we will eliminate that cycle... is if we deal with it holistically.

It must also take into account the racial disparities that plague our system and how young people, women, and other populations are uniquely affected.

Our bill restores the original congressional intent on these penalties and applies the evidence-based approach from the States.

Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, rather than this rational, thoughtful approach, too many politicians across the country have chosen to play politics with crime policy.

I am very concerned about as many alternatives as possible to juvenile incarceration.

The provisions of this bill will save money and reduce crime.

I commend the President for his actions yesterday to commute the sentences of 46 drug offenders whose punishments did not match the crimes committed.

The research shows that providing incentives to inmates to complete educational, vocational, substance abuse, mental health, and traditional programs will help reduce both recidivism and the amount of money spent on the Federal prison…

I believe that we need to be investing a lot in the beginning of this experience and that is in the mother's stomach.

We cannot--we cannot--perpetuate a system in which people have nowhere to go other than a life of crime.

As appealing as these policies may sound, their impact has overloaded our prisons.

We think we have gotten rid of debtors prison, but it is alive and well in our Nation.

We cannot have a Nation where we are raising children of incarcerated adults, which is happening now.

A child with an incarcerated father is more likely to be suspended from school than a peer without an incarcerated father.

Now is the time for criminal justice reform, and the SAFE Justice Act delivers the change necessary to enact fairness in sentencing.

It is one thing to keep a light on problems like achievement gaps, as the underlying bill does, but it kind of sweeps everything under the rug. Before the participation threshold of 95 percent, only one State actually assessed 95 percent…

The present law only requires that States identify achievement gaps and prescribes exactly what has to be done to address the achievement gaps. Unfortunately, the one-size-fits-all prescription has often failed to effectively address the…