[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 26, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H5666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PARDON STEVEN AND DWIGHT HAMMOND

  (Mr. WALDEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to raise an issue that would 
``shock the conscience.'' Those are not my words. Those are the words 
of a distinguished Federal judge when he refused to sentence two 
ranchers in my district to 5 years in prison. Judge Hogan looked at the 
case and he said: That is not right. It would ``shock the conscience.''
  This Friday, the younger of those two ranchers will mark his fourth 
year in prison for starting a fire--by the way, fire on the range, high 
desert, is a management tool. They were using it for that purpose. They 
were tried. They were convicted. They never should have been sentenced 
to this.
  The Obama administration came back and resentenced them to 5 years 
for 139 acres. We burn hundreds of thousands of acres every year. The 
government starts fires that burn onto private land. Nothing seems to 
happen.
  It is time for the President to review this situation and to grant a 
pardon to Steven and Dwight Hammond, pull them back together with their 
families. They have served long enough.
  This is an issue that shocks the conscience. It is time for real 
justice, and President Trump can administer that.

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