Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is predicting that prison reform legislation supported by President Trump will win overwhelming support in the U.S. Senate.
Called the FIRST STEP Act, the prison and criminal justice reform legislation won widespread support in the U.S. House, passing by a 360-59 margin. That level of bipartisan support has been rare in recent years and appears to fill Sen. Paul with optimism.
He reportedly said it ranks as “one of the few issues that right and left are coming together on.”
But since clearing the House in May 2018, the reform measure has taken a backseat to party feuds over budgets, immigration and other Trump Administration policy priorities. But with the incoming Democrat majority taking control of the House, President Trump and GOP leadership are attempting to fast track their legislative agenda and the president has ramped up support for the reform package.
“I’ll be waiting with my pen,” Pres. Trump reportedly said while noting the law would reverse trends that have “disproportionately affected the African-American community.”
The president has made it abundantly clear that all Americans deserve equal treatment under the law and he was at odds with former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions over prison reform. Sessions was forced to resign over such disagreements like this.
Despite Democrats claiming they want equal justice for African-Americans, many liberal lawmakers are now reversing their support. Some are suspiciously claiming they no longer support this particular criminal justice reform package because it does not go far enough. That position has been met with skepticism considering Democrats did not push through reform bills when they had the majority in both houses of Congress during the Obama years.
“Any hesitation in support is likely due to the bill either not going far enough, or overall suspicion of the substance because President Trump is involved,” former Obama Administration strategist Stephanie Cutter reportedly said.
In other words, Democrats would rather play party politics with the lives of excessively sentenced African-Americans than allow a bipartisan win that includes President Trump. Recent polls show that 29 percent of Democrats now oppose the legislation compared to only 8 percent of Republicans.
“One explanation is the opposite of the Midas touch,” University of Pennsylvania political science prof. Daniel Hopkins reportedly stated. “As soon as a polarizing politician is associated with a piece of legislation, whether it was Obama with the Affordable Care Act or Trump with criminal justice reform, that partisan cue can often override citizens’ evaluations of the specific elements of the legislation.”
Still, Sen. Paul believes that bipartisan support will prevail.
“Conservative Christians are supportive of it because they believe in second chances. They believe that you can change your life for the better and that giving people … that mostly hurt themselves with drugs, giving those people a second chance is a reasonable thing,” Sen. Paul reportedly said.
Paul continued, “And you have progressives on the left who believe in the same thing. This has really brought a lot of people together. We’ll probably vote on this as early as this week, with the final vote next week. And it may well get 80 members of the Senate voting for it. That’s amazing to get 80 out of 100 to support one bill.”
South Carolina Lindsey Graham recently agreed with Sen. Paul’s assessment. However, he has been outspoken about the FIRST STEP Act wallowing when it should be brought to the floor for a vote. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley also appears to be turning up the heat on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to send the reform legislation to the president’s desk.
“Plenty of time to pass First Step Act in December,” Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Grassley reportedly tweeted. “Will GOP senators & Ldr McConnell stand in Pres Trump’s way of achieving major bipartisan victory or join in historic + popular reform?”
The conventional wisdom is that once the new Congress enters in January, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and more so-called resist and obstruct Democrats will use false propaganda to squirm their way out of voting in favor of the measure. Too many Democrats are unwilling to let Pres. Trump earn a social justice policy win, and that’s why the clock is ticking on prison reform.
“There are a few holdouts on the Republican side,” Sen. Paul reportedly said. “This is really a big achievement for President Trump that he’s gotten everybody together on this.”
