FIRST STEP Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, as we approach the holiday season, many of us will be celebrating differently. COVID-19 may be limiting travel, family members we see in person, or other holiday traditions. Yet there is much to be grateful for.

For me, I am thankful for my health, my family, my country, and my staff. I am also grateful to serve Iowans and work in the Senate to tackle legislation, conduct oversight, and work for the best interests of the people of Iowa.

I am also thankful to reflect upon previous accomplishments. This time of year coincides with a milestone achievement, that being the anniversary of the passage of the FIRST STEP Act, and to remember that the criminal justice reform bill that we call the FIRST STEP Act is the most comprehensive overhaul of criminal justice legislation in a generation

On December 18, 2018, the Senate passed the most significant criminal justice reform legislation in a generation, and 3 days later, President Trump signed the bill into law. The FIRST STEP Act is an example of what the Senate can accomplish when we reach across the aisle to address our Nation's most pressing problems. I am proud that the FIRST STEP Act has been the law of the land now for 2 years.

The past 2 years have been uniquely challenging. In the first year of the law's tenure, I worked with Senate partners to oversee its implementation efforts. This included meeting with critical stakeholders in the Justice Department, reviewing the status of the law's implementation, and ensuring that the law's application reflected congressional intent.

In that first year, we accomplished a lot together, in a bipartisan way. Because of the FIRST STEP Act, thousands of inmates received the benefits of the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act to resolve sentencing disparities that came about from legislation, I suppose, from almost 30 years ago between those convicted for crack and those convicted for cocaine.

In this first year, the Justice Department also released its risk and needs assessment system--a tool used to individually review the recidivism risk of each Federal inmate and place the inmate in programming to prevent future criminal acts. The Bureau of Prisons also issued procedures for more efficient access and use of the home confinement program.

Implementation efforts have faced significant challenges, however, namely, the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the FIRST STEP Act provided tools that the administration has been able to use to help vulnerable inmates. During the pandemic, it has become apparent that inmates who are confined in Federal prisons are among the most vulnerable populations in the United States. As they are in Federal custody, it is quite obvious the Federal Government has a duty to ensure they are treated humanely.

To that end, Senator Durbin and I urged the increased review of compassionate release and elderly home detention cases in light of the COVID-19 cases within our Federal prisons. We also asked the Justice Department inspector general to review the use of home confinement authority, the preventative safety measures connected with it, COVID-19 testing, screening, and isolation measures, and the availability of access by inmates to electronic communication. I am pleased to say that this administration responded to many of our requests, though more work needs to be done as we continue to grapple with the effects of COVID-19 in our Federal prisons.

One of the most important issues we must address is a key provision of the FIRST STEP Act, that being the requirement for the Bureau of Prisons to make programming available to prisoners to help them to live productive lives once they leave prison, and that will make it less likely, then, they will return to lives of crime.

The coronavirus has made it impossible for the Bureau of Prisons, at least at this time, to provide this programming as the law intends and requires because, as you know, inmates must be socially distanced from each other to prevent the virus's spread, which flies in the face of meeting in person to participate in recidivism reduction programming. Therefore, as we move forward, balancing effective programming access with the CDC-approved safety measures is critical.

As I return to the leadership of the Committee on the Judiciary, whether that is as ranking member or chairman, depending upon the outcome of the Georgia races, I want everybody to know that I am going to continue to make the implementation of the FIRST STEP Act a priority and will ensure the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons faithfully execute the law.

Lastly, as we embark on a new Congress and a new year, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to seek the middle ground on criminal justice reform. We have done it before, and we can do it again, and more needs to be done.

The FIRST STEP Act has made a difference in the lives of thousands of prisoners, and it will continue to impact many in the Federal criminal justice system. It gives prisoners a better opportunity to leave their criminal pasts behind and become productive members of society. In fact, we learned that from States like Texas, Mississippi, and North and South Carolina, where they actually did a good job of preparing people to return to society, with productive lives, saving the taxpayers money if there is not recidivism. Some of those States have even shut down some prisons.

Alerted to that, too often, Congress waits to learn something from our laboratories of our political system--the States. We learned a lot that brought about the FIRST STEP Act. There is more that we can learn, and we can build on the FIRST STEP Act. It is remarkable what we were able to achieve 2 short years ago. I am hopeful to carry that spirit into 2021 and beyond, whether I am chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery Expedited Hiring Authorities Act of 2020

Now, Madam President, I have one other short point I would like to make that deals directly with negotiations going on right now for a COVID-19 package that we are trying to put together. Some people call it a stimulus package or something that could be put in the omnibus appropriations bill.

This goes back to the CARES Act that we passed in March when Congress authorized the creation of a Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery to oversee the billions of dollars in new Federal spending-- hence, to make sure that those Federal dollars were spent according to the law. In the past, when Congress created a special inspector general to fill a sudden need in new government oversight, this Congress quickly followed with additional legislation to provide the IG with expedited hiring authority to staff his new offices and also to begin timely oversight operations. Such timely oversight operations are particularly needed now because so much of this CARES money that was appropriated in March has gone out the door.

So, in the tradition of past Congresses setting up other special IGs to fill a sudden need, I introduced S. 3751, a bipartisan piece of legislation modeled on past special IG expedited hiring authority language. My bill provides the IG a short 6-month window to quickly hire the staff he needs to build his organization and begin carrying out the oversight mandated by Congress under the CARES Act. However, as of today, my bill still hasn't passed, and IG Miller has been left to work with an office that is still highly understaffed.

That is an outcome that should concern everyone here in the Senate if you are passionate about government oversight and making sure that money is spent responsibly. Whenever the government spends large sums of money, as we have in addressing this pandemic, there will always be bad actors somewhere out there, lying in wait, to test the system to see how much they can steal. We need a fully staffed and fully functional IG in place to meet those bad actors head-on to serve as an effective check on waste, fraud, and abuse.

Despite broad support for my bill from both sides of the aisle, I have heard rumors that some of my colleagues across the aisle may be wary of granting expedited hiring authority to the IG simply because they don't agree with the personal politics of the individual confirmed for that position. This amounts to an attempt to nullify the IG's confirmation by limiting his ability to conduct oversight and, hopefully, to make sure that all of the money that we are spending under all of these pandemic appropriations we have made is spent according to the law; hopefully, that implies responsibly spending the money.

Congress has already made the decision to establish this IG. Now we need to give the office the resources it needs to succeed. Personal and political disagreements are not reasons to deny the American people oversight of how billions of their tax dollars are being spent. Once the IG hires staff and has the ability to begin the substantive oversight work mandated by Congress, there will, as always, be an important place for congressional oversight to ensure the IG is doing his job.

I intend to conduct the same level of oversight of this IG that I have for others. I expect my colleagues will do the same.

That is why I urge my colleagues, regardless of any personal differences that they have, to support this bipartisan legislation granting expedited hiring authority for the Special IG for Pandemic Recovery and included in the forthcoming COVID legislation.

Now, I have heard rumors within the last hour that there has already been a decision that they are not going to move ahead on this money for hiring to get this job. If that is true, I don't want anybody, whether it is a Republican or a Democrat, to ever complain about something that comes to light, that the money wasn't spent the way it was intended to be spent or it was wasted here or wasted there. Don't complain to me.

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