[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 16492-16493]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         UNITED STATES PAROLE COMMISSION EXTENSION ACT OF 2013

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of H.R. 3190.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3190) to provide for the continued performance 
     of the functions of the United States Parole Commission, and 
     for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the United States Parole Commission is 
scheduled to expire tomorrow. After significant bicameral negotiations, 
2 weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed by unanimous consent a 
bipartisan bill, H.R. 3190, to reauthorize the commission for 5 years. 
Public safety demands that we pass this legislation swiftly and I urge 
the Senate to support its immediate enactment. We should have passed 
this bill weeks ago,

[[Page 16493]]

but a single Republican hold has placed us in the precarious position 
of seeking passage on the eve of expiration. This is not the way to 
protect public safety.
  The Parole Commission is responsible for granting or denying parole 
for Federal and District of Columbia prisoners who were sentenced 
before the Federal and DC Governments abolished parole. The commission 
was created to consider the requests of these ``old law'' Federal and 
DC inmates, but it also has jurisdiction over more recent DC offenders 
who are on supervised release from prison. In addition, the commission 
supervises some military law offenders, State offenders in the witness 
protection program, and foreign-law offenders serving sentences in the 
United States.
  The consequences of failing to reauthorize the commission would be 
dire. ``Old law'' Federal and DC inmates are required by law to receive 
periodic parole hearings. If the commission were unavailable to hold 
these hearings and declare that certain inmates should not be paroled, 
around 3,500 inmates would be released. Potentially dangerous 
individuals would be allowed to simply walk free without any assessment 
of the risk to public safety if this reauthorization does not pass the 
Senate immediately.
  Failure to reauthorize the commission would have particularly harsh 
consequences for the District of Columbia. The commission currently 
sets the conditions of supervision for DC offenders and determines when 
those conditions have been violated. If the commission were to cease 
operations, around 9,000 offenders would no longer receive adequate 
supervision. These include extremely dangerous criminals, such as 
murderers and rapists.
  Congress has consistently recognized the importance of the 
commission, reauthorizing it on 6 prior occasions. We last reauthorized 
the commission 2 years ago. At that time, the Republican-led House of 
Representatives unanimously passed a bill to extend the commission for 
3 years, but a single Senator blocked the bill and insisted on only a 
2-year extension.
  So we are here now, 2 years later, and the House has appropriately 
passed a bipartisan 5-year extension. I have been working with the 
House since July on this straightforward reauthorization. As the House 
recognizes, the need for the commission will not cease within the next 
5 years. In fact, it is estimated that Federal ``old-law'' offenders 
will require parole decisions for the next 35 years.
  I hope we can agree to this 5-year extension, which includes 
extensive annual reporting requirements that will allow Congress to 
conduct oversight of the commission. All of the reporting requirements 
from the last reauthorization are included, along with new requirements 
related specifically to the District of Columbia. There is nothing 
objectionable in this bill, and there is no substantive reason for 
anyone to block it.
  The events of the past few weeks have shown deep divisions in the 
House Republican caucus. But one thing on which all 232 House 
Republicans agree is that the Parole Commission should be reauthorized 
for another 5 years. They all agreed that releasing potentially 
dangerous prisoners was a bad idea. This bill is not controversial.
  As I have mentioned before, Senator Paul and I and others are working 
in a bipartisan manner on sentencing reform. We believe that judges 
should have more discretion in sentencing when a mandatory minimum 
sentence is unnecessary and counterproductive. The extension of the 
Parole Commission is quite a different matter, however. If the 
commission is not reauthorized, there will be no one to decide whether 
thousands of offenders are ready for parole. These inmates will simply 
be released.
  I want to commend the sponsor of the House bill, Congressman Steve 
Chabot, along with co-sponsors Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Ranking 
Member John Conyers of the House Judiciary Committee, and Chairman Jim 
Sensenbrenner and Ranking Member Bobby Scott of the Subcommittee on 
Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations. They understood 
the urgency and imminent consequences of inaction. Unfortunately, some 
in the Senate did not share that position and now we are up against the 
final deadline. It is time to end these petty games and to let Congress 
do its job. We must pass this bill now.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read three times and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 3190) was ordered to a third reading, was read the 
third time, and passed.

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