[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 143 (Thursday, October 1, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S7104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. 
        Whitehouse, Mr. Lee, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Graham, Mr. Leahy, Mr. 
        Booker, and Mr. Scott):
  S. 2123. A bill to reform sentencing laws and correctional 
institutions, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.


                 SENTENCING REFORM AND CORRECTIONS ACT

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce, along 
with a broad bipartisan group of colleagues, a truly landmark piece of 
legislation.
  It is the result of months of hard work and thoughtful deliberations. 
It is the largest criminal justice reform bill in a generation.
  This bill represents a consensus among my colleagues and me.
  There are elements of the criminal justice system that we agree can 
and should be improved. We all agree that statutory mandatory minimum 
sentences can serve an important role in protecting public safety and 
bringing justice to crime victims, and this bill will preserve the 
primary mandatory minimums to keep some certainty and uniformity in 
Federal sentences and to encourage criminals to cooperate with law 
enforcement. We even add two new mandatory minimums for crimes 
involving interstate domestic violence and supplying weapons or other 
defense materials to prohibited countries or terrorists, but our 
current system has produced some specific instances of severe and 
excessive sentences.
  So we all agree that we need to lower some of the harshest enhanced 
mandatory minimums, and we all agree that we can do a better job of 
targeting those enhanced mandatory sentences to the most serious 
violent and repeat offenders.
  This bill does just that. It even expands some of those enhanced 
mandatory minimums to criminals with prior violent felonies and State 
crimes involving the unlawful use of firearms. That will be a big help 
in cities across the country who face rising homicide rates from 
violent offenders who have been released from prison.
  We also all agree that our current system could benefit from giving 
judges a bit more discretion in sentencing. That is why we are 
expanding the current safety valve.
  We also create a second safety valve so that nonviolent offenders who 
have minor criminal histories or play low-level roles in drug 
organizations are not improperly swept up by mandatory minimums.
  Finally, we all agree that we must improve our prisons and stop the 
revolving door. Those of us introducing the bill have agreed to give 
lower-risk inmates a chance to return to society earlier and with 
better prospects to become productive, law-abiding citizens.
  There are other parts of this bill that are also important, but I 
will not go into them at this time. As I said, this is the biggest 
criminal justice reform in a generation.
  Instead, I wish to end with the idea that this bill is about the 
Senate. Senators from both sides of the aisle and Senators with very 
different perspectives have come together to solve an important problem 
facing the United States. This is how the U.S. Senate can work, should 
work, and I am pleased to be a part of it and the chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee.
  Finally, I extend my sincere thanks to my colleagues who joined me in 
this effort: Senators Durbin, Cornyn, Whitehouse, Lee, Graham, Schumer, 
Booker, and Scott, and my friend Ranking Member Leahy.
  I close by again thanking the ranking member of the Judiciary 
Committee, Senator Leahy, for the great help that he has been, not only 
as my friend, but also for his work on this piece of legislation.
                                 ______