Mediaboss Marketing

Bluntly calling out Attorney General Jeff Sessions' hard-line stance on criminal justice as "wrong," a "mistake" and "aggressive," Senators Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, and Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, have pledged to fight for sentencing reform.

"We've been working on trying to get rid of some of the injustice of mandatory minimums and give judges more discretion," Paul said in a telephone press conference Wednesday. The Justice Safety Valve Act, introduced to the Senate by Paul, Leahy and Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley, would empower federal judges to give out sentences below the mandatory minimum in certain cases. The law could go a long way towards neutralizing Attorney General Jeff Sessions' memo, issued earlier this month, directing prosecutors to seek the toughest possible sentences, even in cases of non-violent drug offenders. The memo rolls back the criminal justice reforms that took place during the Obama administration.

At the time, Sessions defended the memo by citing President Trump's broadly-defined vow to protect the American public from threats both foreign and domestic. "This is a key part of President Trump's promise to keep America safe," Sessions said. "If you are a drug trafficker, we will not look the other way. We will not be willfully blind to your conduct."

Paul and Leahy pointed out that rather than keep Americans safe, the drug war Sessions seems eager to revive ties judges' hands and needlessly ruins lives, all while being very costly to taxpayers. "We know it doesn't work, now we're trying to get something done that does work," Paul said.

Paul listed a few examples of shocking prison terms handed down thanks to mandatory minimums. There's John Horner, a father of three serving 25 years for selling some of his own painkillers to a friend who turned out to be a police informant. There's Weldon Angelos, who got 55 years after getting caught selling some weed a drug that is legal in many parts of the country.

Leahy, a former prosecutor, emphasized the high cost of imprisoning so many people for so long, a strategy that has yet to rid America of either illegal drugs or crime.

"The idea that, 'We've got to stiffen the penalties and crime will stop,' we've found it doesn't work," Leahy said. "This is extraordinarily expensive... Then, there's less money to go to violent, serious crime."

Paul pointed out that putting more people in prison is also not a smart way to address opioid addiction. "In my opinion we should treat drug addiction more as a health crisis and less as an incarceration problem," he said. "There's a problem, but locking everyone up isn't the solution. Instead, "families, churches and communities" should band together to "cure the ravages of addiction," Paul said.

Criminal reform advocates largely support the Senate's sentencing reform efforts. Kevin Ring, President of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, tells Rolling Stone that the Justice Safety Valve Act goes further than previous bipartisan efforts to reform America's expensive, vastly overcrowded prison system.

"I think it's a pretty bold move that is an effective repeal of mandatory minimums," he says.

Plus, it's high time for Congress to nail down reforms. Sessions himself noted in the memo that his policy shift "simply utilizes the tools Congress has given us." So it's up to Congress to fix the situation by changing the law, Ring says.

"If [legislators] don't think these laws should be enforced, the answer is to take them away. Because if you give somebody a hammer, they're going to use it," Ring says.

It's not clear what would happen if Paul and Leahy manage to wrangle the bill through Senate and onto the President's desk. In typically schizoid fashion, the Trump administration has jumped all over the place on drug policy and criminal justice reform. The president's embrace of President Rodrigo Duterte, who unleashed literal death squads on his own people in a crusade to end drug use, does not bode well for sane drug policy issuing from the White House. Neither has Trump's repeated claim that building a wall between Mexico and the U.S. would solve the country's opioid crisis.

But Paul indicated that there are people in the administration who support reform. "If we get something out of the Senate there's a reasonable chance the President might sign it," he said. A companion bill is being introduced in the House of Representatives.

Bill Piper, Senior Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, tells Rolling Stone that this is a perfect opportunity for the White House to stake out a position on prison reform and show who's really steering America's criminal justice and drug policy.

"It's worth noting that there's a disconnect between Jeff Sessions and the President, and it's not clear who is actually in charge," Piper says. "The president put Jared Kushner in charge of his task force for looking at criminal justice reform Jeff Sessions preemptively undermined the work Jared Kushner is doing. So does the administration oppose reform? Because it's already clear where Jeff Sessions stands."

With the exception of outliers like Sessions, criminal justice reform is one of the few issues on which there's bipartisan consensus.

"This is not a Republican or Democrat idea, this is a common sense idea," Leahy said.

***

How to Contact:

Contact Senator Patrick Leahy's D.C. Office: (202) 224-4242

Contact Senator Rand Paul's D.C. Office: (202) 224-4343

Contact Senator Jeff Merkley's D.C. Office: (202) 224-3753

Sign up for our newsletter to receive breaking news directly in your inbox.

Originally posted here:
Senate Moves Forward With Bipartisan Bill to Rein in Jeff Sessions - RollingStone.com

The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee passed the Regulations from Executives In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act Wednesday, a bill sponsored by U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.). This is just one bill Paul has sponsored to protect constitutional checks and balances between the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch.

The REINS Act basically says that any regulation over $100 million will need to come back to have Congress approval. I think this was the intent of our Founding Fathers that legislation be written that impacts our society, significant legislation be passed by Congress and not just by the Executive Branch, and not just by unelected folks in the Executive Branch, said Paul in a committee meeting.

He later added, I think if you believe in the separation of powers and that legislation or that things that affect our economy should originate in Congress. This is a great way to have oversight over regulations.

Paul is also co-sponsoring the Justice Safety Valve Act along with Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). The re-introduction of the bill came after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the DOJ would take a tougher stance on the War on Drugs.

Targeting the AG: Sessions War on Drugs Draws Bipartisan Fire

Read More

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

See the original post here:
Rand Paul: If You Believe in Separation of Powers, REINS Act Is Bill to Do It - IVN News

An attempt to stop over regulation.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has passed Sen. Rand Pauls (R-KY) Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which means it will finally proceed to the Senate floor.

This is a major victory for us who despise too much regulation. From Reason:

Sponsored by Sen. Ran Paul (R-Kentucky), the REINS Act would require every new regulation that costs more than $100 million to be approved by Congress. As it is now, executive branch agencies can pass those rules unilaterally, and even though those major rules account for only 3 percent of annual regulations, they are the ones that cause the most headaches for individuals and businesses.

Passage of the REINS Act would also require Congress to review all existing regulations that surpass the $100 million threshold. Since theres no clear accounting of how many such rules exist, assessing the landscape would be a necessary step before reforms could be enacted.

Pauls office released this statement to celebrate the passage of the bill:

For too long, an ever-growing federal bureaucracy has piled regulations and red tape on the backs of the American people without any approval by Americans elected representatives, said Dr. Paul. The REINS Act reasserts Congress legislative authority and would continue the historic progress we have made this year to curb the damaging effects of overreaching regulations.

Dr. Pauls REINS Act would rein in unelected federal bureaucrats by requiring that Congress affirmatively approve every new major rule proposed by the Executive Branch before it can be enforced on the American people.

A major rule is defined as any federal rule or regulation that may result in 1.) an annual economic impact of $100 million or more, 2.) a major increase in costs or prices for American consumers, or 3.) significant adverse effects on the economy.

Paul introduced the bill back in January and received 26 cosponsors. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) signed on since he witnessed how regulatory overreach can stifle our local economies and cost American jobs since his father owns a small business. Young introduced a similar bill as a representative in the House back in 2015.

Young has also used the bill as a way to persuade Democrats that the REINS Act could also stop President Donald Trump from gaining too much power. From The Washington Examiner:

We need to reassert our prerogative as the legislative branch, the freshly minted senator told the Washington Examiner, whether we happen to have a Republican or a Democrat president in the White House at any given moment in time.

That might not be that tough of a sell when Democrats consider the possibility of President-elect Trump using an administrative army to shut out Congress. For the minority party, the idea of the president-elect governing by pen and phone cant be comforting.

Original post:
Rand Paul's REINS Act Heads to Senate Floor - legal Insurrection (blog)

Conservative Review

Rand Paul: House bill didn't repeal Obamacare; Senate CAN Conservative Review J., that would allow states to apply for waivers from Obamacare regulations still well short of the promised full repeal. Sen. Rand Paul hopes that the Senate version of healthcare reform will look more like a full repeal of Obamacare reforming ... Ted Cruz And Rand Paul Urge Republican Senate To End Obamacare By Going NuclearThe Liberty Conservative Capitol Hill Healthcare UpdateJD Supra (press release) Senate GOP warms to larger insurance subsidies for older and low-income peopleThe Hill Bloomberg all 259 news articles »

Here is the original post:
Rand Paul: House bill didn't repeal Obamacare; Senate CAN - Conservative Review

Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul acknowledged gettingthe Trump administration on board with criminal justice reforms will be an uphill battle on a call with reporters Wednesday.

Paul recently introduced bipartisan legislation dubbed the Justice Safety Valve Act along with Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, which would allow federal judges to sidestepmandatory minimums in certain cases.

The legislation directly conflicts with a memo Attorney General Jeff Sessionsreleased Fridaycalling for judges to imposes the strictest penaltieson nonviolent drug offenders.

Paul and Leahy have long fought for reforms to mandatoryminimum sentencing, working unsuccessfully to secure permanent changes during the Obama administration.

We havent lost interest in it, we just will have a little bit of an uphill battle getting this administration but I dont think its impossible, Paul told reporters. Ive heard there are members that are interested in it in the administration, but the administration is not unified in being for criminal justice reform. But we havent given up on him, and we have to get across that this is not a Republican or a Democratic idea.

Leahy echoed Pauls sentiment, adding he believes the current system is creating unnecessary federal expenses and is taking a one-size-fits-all approach.

We have to we have to get across that this is not a Republican or a Democratic idea, this is a commonsense idea, hesaid on the call. And what Im trying to do is get a number of people who served in law enforcement as I have to join on this.

The lawmakers said they think they have a better shot at accomplishing reforms though the legislative branch than pushing for changes in the executive branch.

We are having conversations with people who we think are sympathetic in the administration. I dont think particularly the attorney general is that sympathetic and really it surprised me a little bit in how aggressively hes going in the opposite direction, Paul continued. So we will do what we can with the administration, but I think if we could get something that made it out of the Senate in a bipartisan way I think there would be a reasonable chance we could get the president on board.

Follow Juliegrace Brufke on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [emailprotected].

View original post here:
Rand Paul: We Face An Uphill Battle Getting Administration On Board With Criminal Justice Reform - The Daily Caller