[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 212 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8765-S8766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority whip.


                             First Step Act

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this December marks the seventh 
anniversary of the passage of the First Step Act, the most significant 
reform to our criminal justice system in a generation.
  That victory was born out of years of bipartisan negotiations led by 
myself and my colleagues Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, Senator 
Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Senator Mike Lee of Utah--Democrats and 
Republicans working together. The end result was and continues to be 
life-changing for the people who were impacted.
  The First Step Act delivered much needed reforms to our outdated 
sentencing laws and provided real opportunities for incarcerated 
Americans to safely reenter their communities. Those reforms have 
reduced populations in overcrowded prisons, reunited families, and 
revitalized communities these men and women reenter as productive 
neighbors. The evidence backs it up. Just look at the numbers.
  Of the more than 40,000 people released under the law through January 
2024, just under 10 percent have been rearrested--40,000, under 10 
percent. Compare that to the Bureau of Prisons' overall recidivism 
rate, which is 45 percent. The difference between 10 percent and 45 
percent is striking, and it shows what we can achieve when we are smart 
on crime and follow the data.
  I want to take a moment to highlight the story of one woman from 
Alton, IL. So often in my congressional career, things that have 
inspired me come from stories of real people and real lives. This is 
one of them.
  Her name was Eugenia Jennings. As a teenager, she, sadly, experienced 
the injustice of our antiquated sentencing laws firsthand. She was 
terribly abused as a child, and by age 15, Eugenia Jennings was 
addicted to crack cocaine. At age 23, as a mother of three, Eugenia was 
sentenced to over 20 years in Federal prison for selling less than 14 
grams of a drug.
  In prison, she turned out to be a model for others. She took all of 
the courses available to her, overcame her addiction, and talked to 
students about the dangers of drug addiction. Sadly, while she was 
incarcerated, she developed leukemia.
  I asked President Barack Obama, my former colleague in the Senate, to 
commute Eugenia's sentence, and he did just that. It was the first 
commutation he issued. Eugenia was released just in time to see her 
oldest daughter graduate from high school. I cannot tell you the joy in 
her voice when she told me that.
  She passed away 2 years later, but her story has lived on and served 
as a driving force behind my efforts to reform our Federal drug 
sentencing laws.
  Eugenia's story led me to meet more individuals whose lives were 
forever altered by unfair sentencing laws, including Matthew Charles. 
Matthew also had a difficult childhood, enduring both physical and 
verbal abuse. He joined the Army at age 18 but found himself still 
filled with anger and hurt. He eventually turned to what he called 
wayward living and selling drugs. He received a State conviction and 
then a Federal conviction. Because he had a prior conviction when he 
ended up in Federal court because he had been selling crack rather than 
powdered cocaine, Matthew received a sentence of 35 years--35 years.
  While in prison, he worked as a GED tutor and law library clerk in 
addition to mentoring young people. He helped other incarcerated 
individuals who could not read to understand their letters and court 
documents, and he drafted filings for them. In 21 years in prison, 
Matthew did not receive a single disciplinary infraction.
  After Matthew's conviction and sentence, Congress passed a law I 
wrote called the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the disparity in 
sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses, but the law was 
not retroactive. When Eugenia and Matthew were sentenced, the hands of 
their sentencing judges were tied because Congress severely limited a 
judge's discretion to

[[Page S8766]]

impose an individualized sentence and, instead, mandated overly harsh, 
one-size-fits-all penalties.
  The First Step Act took one giant step toward correcting that unfair 
system. Among other reforms, it made the Fair Sentencing Act 
retroactive. Matthew Charles was one of the first people released from 
prison after the First Step Act became law.
  But, as the name of the First Step Act suggests, it is just that, one 
first step. There is more to be done. To make our system fairer and our 
communities safer, we need to continue to reform our sentencing laws in 
a smart way. That is why Senator Grassley and I reintroduced a package 
of bipartisan bills to expand on the progress of the First Step Act.
  One of those bills is the First Step Implementation Act, which is 
legislation, among other things, that would retroactively apply the 
First Step Act sentencing reforms to sentences imposed before the law's 
passage. This would impact people like Matthew Charles, who was 
sentenced before Congress reformed outdated statutes.
  People like Eugenia and Matthew deserve a second chance. The First 
Step Implementation Act would make redemption for more individuals 
likely impossible. The First Step Act's passage was a glimmer of 
bipartisanship in a political arena that has become increasingly 
polarized. It was signed into law by President Trump in his first term. 
This success shows what we can accomplish on behalf of the American 
people when we put aside our political differences, when we come to the 
table with reasonable approaches.
  We need evidence-backed solutions to reduce crime and make our 
communities safer.
  So, as we celebrate the seventh anniversary, I will continue to work 
with my colleagues to reform outdated sentencing laws. Let's rekindle 
the spirit of bipartisanship and get something done in the Senate. I 
call on my colleagues to support the Grassley-Durbin legislation, the 
First Step Implementation Act. Together, we can reduce crime, improve 
our justice system, and make America's communities safer.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, before my colleague leaves the floor, I 
just want to commend him for his leadership and for that of some of our 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle, like Lindsey Graham and Mike 
Lee, who were extraordinary in getting this done.
  When I got to the Senate about 12 years ago, one of the best 
experiences I have had as a Senator was to have the senior Senator, who 
in many ways, to me, was a legend, put me under his wing and say: Join 
me in this effort, in this fight. It gave me one of the best, most 
gratifying legislative experiences I have had as a U.S. Senator.
  On this the seventh anniversary, I just want to herald the leadership 
of Dick Durbin for never giving up, for his indomitable will, and for 
his invincible spirit in getting this major piece of legislation done.
  I am grateful to be able to stand here today, 7 years later, to thank 
him for that kind of leadership as well as my colleagues in the 
Republican Party who stood strong, who stood with us, and helped us get 
over this line. This is the kind of thing that is a real example of 
setting political differences aside and doing what is right. There were 
people in the White House, not just President Trump but many of his 
team members, who enabled us to work together to get something done.
  It shows what we can do when we let evidence, facts, fairness, and 
compassion be the guide to getting legislation done. This is not only a 
reflection of what we have done; to me, it should inspire us to what we 
can do. For 7 years, this landmark legislation has represented the 
crowning achievement in this body.
  First, I want to remind everybody that, in the years leading up to 
this, our prison population in America ballooned by 800 percent. 
America became the incarceration capital of planet Earth, with 5 
percent of the world's population but 25 percent of the world's prison 
population. Even today, close to one out of every three adult Americans 
has a criminal record. That is stunning, and it should stun everybody 
here, but we know we were able to make some changes and not by 
accident. This system--this corrupt system--is a result of decades of 
failed Federal policies that we challenged; that we showed did not 
work.
  My friend Bryan Stevenson put it perfectly. He said that you get 
treated better in this country if you are rich and guilty rather than 
if you are poor and innocent. That is why so many of us worked together 
to get something done.
  As of January 31, 2024, over 17,000 individuals were released from 
residential reentry centers, home confinements, and secure facilities 
because they participated in the programming to help them reenter 
society and earn credits. The great thing about it is their recidivism 
rate is so much lower than it would have been from comparable 
populations that maxed out their time. We have, actually, through the 
programs we have put in place, made people safer; have lowered 
recidivism rates; have created safer communities and stronger, more 
intact families through this program. Over 400,000 people now have 
completed programs that were put together in our legislation. In fiscal 
year 2023, over 4,000 people completed occupational training, and over 
8,000 earned industry-recognized credentials.
  So much good has come from this, but as Senator Durbin said, our work 
is not done. We know that the Bureau of Prisons has a staffing crisis 
that jeopardizes the safety of correctional officers and those in 
custody, and that undermines the programs we have put in place, which 
are not being fully implemented.
  When we named the law, we also were very deliberate. We called it the 
First Step Act because we knew there was so much more work that we 
could be doing in a bipartisan way to empower our criminal justice 
system to be about justice and fairness and public safety, not just the 
routine warehousing of human beings and human potential at great cost 
to taxpayers.
  Perhaps one of the great public safety things we can do is to 
continue this work. We must not succumb to the dangerous rhetoric that 
spreads fear for political gain and does not look at the commonsense, 
evidence-based ways to lower crime, to lower prison rates, to empower 
communities, and to reunite families. We must not brand every person 
who commits an offense as someone who is irredeemable. Indeed, the very 
nature of our country is the ideal of redemption.
  I am so grateful to have participated in the First Step Act. I see my 
friend Mike Lee, who just came in, who is another one of those 
champions whom I mentioned earlier by name. Now that he is on the 
floor, I want to thank him for his courage, for his telling the stories 
of people over and over again until the consciousness of the country 
was raised to the point at which we could get this legislation done.
  Again, it is one of the best experiences I have had as a legislator. 
I want to thank him, Senator Durbin, Senator Chuck Grassley, as well as 
my friend Lindsey Graham, and many of our colleagues on this side of 
the aisle.
  I know the hour is late, and a lot of my friends are waiting here, 
but I am hoping that, in the spirit of this anniversary, we can commit 
ourselves to doubling our efforts and doing more good work in this 
spirit.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). The Senator from Alaska.

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