[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7828]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             FIRST STEP ACT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on the CJR, criminal justice reform, I am 
really deeply heartfelt in thanking everyone who was involved in the 
criminal justice reform legislation.
  I thank Senator Durbin, for whom this issue was a year's-long 
passion. When Senator Durbin gets his teeth into an issue, he does not 
let go until he achieves it, and he is great at getting it done. It was 
a real victory for him.
  Senator Booker felt this issue so passionately from his residents in 
Newark and in seeing what had happened to friends of his and people he 
had known. He was a brilliant legislative tactician in knowing just how 
far to push and in getting the most he could from a Congress that was 
not from our side of the aisle.
  Senator Whitehouse carried the mantle of making sure that while 
people are in prison, they are given adequate preparation so when they 
come out, they don't become recidivists again--free from drugs, with 
job training--and so they can become useful and productive members of 
society.
  Senator Harris also added her passion and experience as attorney 
general to the great arguments for this bill.
  I don't want to leave out colleagues on the other side of the aisle. 
Senator Grassley played a real role as a statesman. Senator Lee did 
tremendous work on this bill. Again, like with Senator Booker but from 
an opposite point of view, he knew when to hold and knew when to fold.
  I thank all of them because this bill will make an extraordinary 
difference in countless lives by making our sentencing laws fairer and 
smarter, by giving judges more discretion so low-level, nonviolent drug 
offenses will not always be subject to arbitrary mandatory minimums; by 
giving prisoners with good behavior and who work hard to rehabilitate 
themselves better opportunities to prepare for their integration back 
into society as productive citizens who can contribute to their 
communities; and by ending the most abusive practices of our criminal 
justice system, like juvenile solitary confinement and the shackling of 
pregnant prisoners.
  The bill got 87 votes. Those 87 votes are an entreaty to the new 
Congress to do more. It is called FIRST STEP for a lot of reasons, one 
being that many of us feel we have to go further and do more. Next 
year, hopefully, we can, and the resounding support from both sides of 
the aisle that this bill got should help us. It should importune us not 
to let this be the last proposal but the first in this area. The law 
will bring more justice to our justice system. I was proud to vote for 
it and so grateful for the work of my colleagues who pulled a diverse 
coalition together to get it across the line.

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