Trade Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I want to spend a few minutes discussing a major crisis in this country that must be addressed. Tragically, in the United States of America we now have 2.2 million people in jail. We have more people incarcerated than any other country on Earth, including China, which is a Communist authoritarian country four times our size. We have more people in jail than does China.

Further, at a time of large deficits and a very large national debt, we are spending about $80 billion a year in Federal, State, and local taxpayer money to lock up people--$80 billion a year to incarcerate people.

Our criminal justice system is broken, and we need major reforms in that system. I think there is no debate in this country that violent and dangerous people must be locked up and they must be kept in jail and away from society. I think nobody argues that. On the other hand, I hope there is also no debate that nonviolent people--people who have been convicted of relatively minor crimes--should not have their lives destroyed while they do time in prison and create an arrest record which will stay with them for their entire lives. The important point is, it is not just the year or 2 years somebody is in prison; this record will stay with them for their entire lives and do enormous damage to their lives.

In 2014 there were 620,000 marijuana possession arrests. That is one arrest every minute. According to a report by the ACLU, there were more than 8 million marijuana arrests in the United States from 2001 to 2010--8 million marijuana arrests--and almost 9 in 10 were for possession. Arrests for marijuana possession rose last year nationwide even as Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia became the first States in the Nation to legalize personal use of marijuana.

Let's be clear that there is a racial component to this situation. Although about the same proportion of Blacks and Whites use marijuana, a Black person is almost four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a White person. In other words, as we try to understand why our prison population today is disproportionately Black and Latino, one reason is because in overpoliced Black neighborhoods, African Americans are much more likely to be arrested for smoking or using marijuana than will Whites. Here is the simple truth: An upper middle class White kid in Scarsdale, NY, has a much lower chance of being arrested for using marijuana than a low-income Black kid in Chicago or Baltimore. Those are just the facts.

Too many Americans in this country have seen their lives destroyed because they have criminal records as a result of marijuana use. That is wrong. That has to change. Let's be clear. A criminal record could mean not only jail time, but much more. If a person has a criminal record, it will be much harder for that person later in life to get a job. It is not so easy to come out of jail and get a job, and if you don't get a job, there is a strong likelihood you will go back into your same old environment and end up in jail again. If somebody has a criminal record, it may be impossible for them to obtain certain types of public benefits and in fact make it difficult for them to even live in public housing. A criminal record stays with a person for his or her entire life until the day he or she dies. A criminal record destroys lives.

Right now, under the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is listed as a Schedule I drug, meaning it is considered to be a drug that is extremely dangerous. In fact, under the act, marijuana is considered to be as dangerous as heroin. I know there are conflicting opinions about the health impacts marijuana may have, but nobody I know seriously believes marijuana is as dangerous as heroin. This is absurd. Nobody believes that.

In my view, the time is long overdue for us to take marijuana off of the Federal Government's list of outlawed drugs. In my view, at a time when Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia have already legalized the personal use of marijuana, every State in this country should have the right to regulate marijuana the same way that State and local laws now govern sales of alcohol and tobacco. Among other things, that means recognized businesses in States that have legalized marijuana should be fully able to use the banking system without fear of Federal prosecution.

In response to the initiatives that Colorado and other States have taken, the Obama administration has essentially allowed these States to go forward and do what the people in those States have chosen to do. That is a good step forward, but it is not good enough because a new administration with a different point of view could simply go forward and prosecute those marijuana businesses and individuals in those States who use marijuana despite what the people in those States have decided to do legislatively.

What I am saying is not that the Federal Government should legalize marijuana throughout the country. This is a decision for the States. I hope many of my colleagues, especially those who express support for States' rights and our Federalist system of government, those who often decry the power of the big bad Federal Government in undermining local initiatives, would support my very simple and straightforward legislation that will be introduced next week.

All my legislation says is that if a State chooses to legalize marijuana, that State should be able to go forward without legal impediments from the Federal Government.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Mr. President, I want to talk about an issue of great importance in this country. I believe the time is now for the United States to end capital punishment. I know this is not necessarily a popular point of view, but in my view it is the right point of view. Virtually every Western industrialized country has chosen to end capital punishment. I would rather have our country stand side-by-side with European democracies than with countries like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and others that maintain the death penalty.

We are all shocked and disgusted by the horrific murders we see in this country, including massacres in schools and on college campuses that seem to take place every week. All of us are tired and disgusted with what we are seeing, but it seems to me that at a time of rampant violence and murder all over the world, where people are being blown up and their heads are being cut off, it is important that the state itself, the Federal Government in America, say loudly and clearly that we will not be part of that process.

When people commit horrendous crimes--and we see too many of them--we should lock them up and throw away the key. I have no problem in saying that people who commit terrible murders should spend the rest of their lives in jail, but the state itself, in a democratic civilized society, should itself not be involved in the murder of other Americans.

I know there are strong differences of opinion on this issue. In fact, I think I am in a minority position, but I think those of us who want to set an example, who want to say that we have to end the murders and the violence we are seeing in our country and all over the world, should in fact be on the side of those of us who believe we must end capital punishment in this country.

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