Political Quotes

“I would like to spend some time today addressing the amendment I have introduced, which is pending--it will be voted on later this morning or early this afternoon--which would establish a national commission to address the issue of criminal justice in our country. I would like to begin by thanking the senior Senator from Maryland for her comments earlier this morning and her strong support of this legislation. I also wish to thank the majority leader and, I believe, a majority of our Democratic caucus who cosponsored this legislation in the last session. This is a bill that was put together over a period of 4\1/2\ years. It is not so much politics as it is leadership in terms of how we address the issue of criminal justice in the United States. We had the support last year, we continue to have the support, I believe, and the cosponsorship on the Republican side of Senator Graham. Last year, Senator Hatch and Senator Snowe also cosponsored this legislation. It passed the House in the same form we are introducing it today by voice vote, with the cosponsorship of Lamar Smith, who is now the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. This is a very important moment in terms of how we are going to resolve a lot of the pending issues with respect to law enforcement in this country.…”