Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. We are here today to begin debate on a piece of legislation called the FIRST STEP Act of 2018. This happens to be the most significant criminal justice reform bill in a generation.

Our country is based upon the rule of law. If someone commits a crime, they should be punished, and that punishment should be severe enough to deter others from committing crimes.

But for our criminal justice system to serve our society well, it has to do more than punish and deter. Recidivism rates are far too high and drive crime rates up. In the Federal system, 49 percent of prisoners are rearrested within 8 years, and 32 percent are convicted of new crimes. We must better prepare prisoners to leave behind their criminal past and to become productive citizens when they leave the prison system.

We also need to make sure that criminal sentences are tough enough to punish and deter, but not be unjustly harsh. Sentences should not destroy the opportunity of redemption for inmates willing to get right with the law.

The FIRST STEP Act is tough on crime, but it is also fair. To tackle the recidivism rates in our country, the bill establishes evidence- based programming that has reduced recidivism at the State level. We have evidence from the States of Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, and many others to justify that fact.

The bill provides incentives for inmates willing to put in the work to complete these programs. Under this bill, a prisoner may earn 10 days of time credit for every 30 days of successful participation, which they can apply toward prerelease custody. However, access to these incentives is available only to those who pose little risk of committing new crimes.

The FIRST STEP Act requires the Bureau of Prisons to implement a risk assessment system to determine an inmate's risk of returning to crime after prison.

Access to the earned-time credits is limited to those who pose a minimum or low risk. The bill also makes clear that violent and high- risk criminals convicted of certain serious offenses are ineligible for the prerelease custody program.

The list of disqualifying offenses includes crimes relating to terrorism, murder, sexual exploitation of children, and gun crimes, among others that are listed in the bill. All fentanyl traffickers are disqualified from earning time credits.

The bill also makes sentencing fairer by returning some discretion to judges during sentencing. Some have called for eliminating mandatory minimums or cutting them back severely.

I happen to be a supporter of mandatory minimum sentences because it helps law enforcement take down criminal enterprises, but at the same time, I recognize there is some unfairness in how these mandatory minimum sentences are sometimes applied. The FIRST STEP Act leaves in place these maximum sentences but also addresses overly harsh and expensive mandatory minimums for certain nonviolent offenders. Locking up low-level offenders for needlessly long prison sentences diverts resources that are needed elsewhere to fight crime.

To address this, the FIRST STEP Act makes a number of changes to sentencing guidelines. First, the legislation clarifies that enhanced penalties for using a firearm during a crime of violence or drug crime should be reserved for repeat offenders of such crimes. That is what Congress had intended when it created the enhanced penalty in the first place.

Second, the bill would reduce the three-strike penalty for life imprisonment to 25 years. The 20-year minimum is reduced to 15 years. The bill also broadens the mandatory penalties, applying them to more of the worst criminals.

Third, the bill provides for more judicial discretion by expanding the existing Federal safety valve to include more low-level, nonviolent offenders. Consistent with the existing law, the judge cannot apply the safety valve unless the defendant has fully cooperated with law enforcement.

Lastly, the bill also allows for the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduced the 100-to-1 disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine.

I want to acknowledge President Trump's leadership on criminal justice reform. Without the President's engagement, we wouldn't be here today. The President deserves credit for brokering a deal that improves fairness and supports law enforcement.

A tremendous amount of credit is also due to my colleagues in the Senate who helped to forge a bipartisan compromise on complex issues. I emphasize ``bipartisan compromise'' because the people in the grassroots of America, even in my State of Iowa, think there isn't much bipartisanship going on here.

I would especially like to thank my colleague, Senator Durbin. He has been a partner through this entire process.

A bipartisan cosponsor includes Senator Lee, who has done a tremendous amount of work on this. In fact, he started with Senator Durbin before I even got involved. We also have cosponsorships by Senators Booker, Graham, Whitehouse, Scott, Feinstein, Cornyn, and Leahy. They all deserve praise for reaching this deal.

The product of years of negotiating and listening to each other is a bill that will reduce crime, strengthen faith in our judicial system, support law enforcement, and give thousands of people a better shot at living good lives.

As we go to this very important first vote on this bill, which is to invoke cloture, I urge all of my colleagues to join with President Trump and our bipartisan coalition of supporters to support the FIRST STEP Act.

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