Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to point out to Members of this body that yesterday in the House of Representatives, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2010 was passed in a noncontroversial manner by a voice vote. This legislation is identical to legislation my staff and I have worked on for more than 3 years, which has cleared the Judiciary Committee, which now has 39 cosponsors, including the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Presiding Officer. I urge leadership on both sides of the aisle to bring this legislation to the floor. Let's get the task of reforming our criminal justice system into motion. It has been more than 40 years since we have had a strong look at all the different components of our criminal justice system and how broken it has become. This legislation would provide the right vehicle to do so. I started working on this issue as soon as I came to the Senate. We worked along with the Joint Economic Committee and many nonprofit groups and 501(c) groups to hold extensive hearings on the issues of mass incarceration, drug policy, how these different components of criminal justice interrelate, and why we need to take a larger look at the process.…”