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December 7, 2018

Senator Ted Cruz supports FIRST STEP Act with revisions, Prez Trump tweets for a "VOTE," and the bill's prospects brighten

The US stock market probably can lay claim to being the most volatile and unpredictable metric since last months election, but the ups and downs surrounding the possible enactment of the FIRST STEP Act during the lame duck Congress have certainly been knocking me for a loop.  As of yesterday evening, as reflected in this post, I was ready to put a folk in reform efforts and conclude they were done for now.  But a new day brings all sorts of new developments: (1) Senator Ted Cruz issued this press release reporting "the White House and the sponsors of this bill ... have decided to accept [his] amendment" to exclude violent offenders from being released early so that now he believes "the Senate should take up and pass this important legislation, and (2) Prez Donald Trump posted this tweet:

This new Politico article, headlined "Trump leans on McConnell to vote on criminal justice reform," provides the latest full update, including these mostly encouraging details:

President Donald Trump pressured Senate Majority Leader Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday to pass criminal justice reform, hoping to push a reluctant McConnell to put it on the floor during a crowded lame duck session. After going mostly silent on the bill for several weeks, Trump touted the bill at an event in Kansas City and then singled McConnell out on Friday on his Twitter feed....

A person familiar with the conversations between the two men said the president was using a light touch on the bill, but would call McConnell out if he felt the bill was drifting away. “McConnell said if we’ve got 65 votes then he would allow the bill to get on the floor. And we’ve far exceeded that. And now the president is pushing the president to get the floor time," the person said. "We need to figure out exactly how this fits in in the floor time. Until we can answer that question all the pressure in the world won’t make a difference. What [Trump has] done is he’s expressed very clearly to McConnell that he wants him to figure it out."

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also talked to Trump on Friday and tweeted that "Trump told me he wants it done THIS CONGRESS."

The Trump tweet came on top of a day of rising public support for the bill, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) endorsing a revised version of criminal justice reform. The legislation, which would relax some federal sentencing guidelines and reform the federal prison system, is being amended to “exclude violent offenders from being released early,” the Texas Republican said in a statement....

Four other senators endorsed the bill on Friday as it faces a time crunch on the Senate calendar. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) backed the bill.  Those senators plus Cruz give the bill more than 30 official supporters in both parties, though almost the whole 49-member Democratic caucus is expected to back the bill if it comes up for a vote.

The real issue is on the Republican side, where advocates argue that about 30 of the 51 senators support it, but GOP leaders say the bill’s support is much lower.  Though conservatives like Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) have led the public charge against it, there are quieter opponents of the bill like Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who says his state is in the midst of a “crime wave” from similar legislation.  “It’s a very challenging time in Alaska to be focused on criminal justice reform,” Sullivan said in an interview. He said the bill should not come up this year.

The internal disagreements and opposition from the National Sheriffs’ Association have made McConnell reluctant to bring the bill to the floor, especially with just two weeks left to pass legislation to fund the government. McConnell has repeatedly indicated to the White House and his conference that finding a window to pass the criminal justice reform bill would be challenging. “Until we can kind of figure out how to get the sheriffs on board, we still have a lot of opposition in our ranks,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 GOP leader. “Then, from a timing standpoint, how would we process that in the next two weeks?”...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he spoke to President Donald Trump on Friday and that the president wants the bill to pass, potentially as part of the spending bill along with more money for the border wall. But that plan would surely draw broad Democratic opposition over funding for the wall. And McConnell has mentioned taking up the bill next year after Democrats take the House. But the bill's supporters say that's akin to starting all over after building a fragile compromise this year.

Some of the most recent of many prior related posts:

December 7, 2018 at 08:01 PM | Permalink

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