Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, my amendment is a simple amendment, as well, that I can imagine nothing more than bipartisan support for.

First of all, I want to again thank the chairman, Mr. Wolf, and the ranking member, for their steadfastness and leadership on this appropriations bill, and to again acknowledge Mr. Wolf in his service and tenure not only to his district, but to the Nation.

I believe that we all have come for the common understanding that this Nation is founded on principles of due process and justice, and as well the recognition that we have a system of criminal justice laws that there are people who will be incarcerated.

I am very glad that I serve on the Judiciary Committee, where my chairman, Chairman Goodlatte, along with Ranking Member Conyers, established an overcriminalization task force.

With that in mind, it is to discuss how you look at laws and be fair to the individual that may be the victim, but also the person that was the perpetrator, or to look at the different charges and various offenses and determine whether or not today, in 2014, they are still appropriate.

My amendment is an amendment that addresses the question of the existing authority of the Attorney General to manage executive responsibilities under 28 U.S.C. 509 and 28 U.S.C. 510 as relates to authorizing the performance by any other officer and as it relates to all functions of agencies and employees.

It speaks to the question of prison overcrowding. It is straightforward, as I indicated. It makes a positive contribution to the problem.

The United States incarcerates nearly 25 percent of the world's inmates, even though it only has 5 percent of the world's population. Thirty years ago, there were less than 30,000 inmates in the Federal system. Today, there are nearly 216,000--an increase of 800 percent.

Mr. Chairman, I have worked on this issue for almost two decades. In the early 1990s, I offered an amendment for good time, early release legislation, to look at providing relief to inmates who had been in the Federal system and reached the age of 45, had in fact not been engaged in any violent crime with a weapon, and had no violent incidents while they were incarcerated. We made the recommendation that we would have the opportunity to release those older inmates.

I am very glad to say that Senator Kennedy had the same kind of legislation. Over the years, we managed to get it into the authorization bill.

But, as I indicated, no other country imprisons a larger percentage of its population. The prison system costs $6.5 billion. That is part of the appropriations today.

My amendment will alleviate this overcrowding by clarifying that nothing in this bill prohibits the Attorney General from exercising his statutory authorities to expand the use of executive clemency to address prison overcrowding and redress sentencing injustices, so long as he does so in a manner consistent with the law and the Constitution.

Much of the overcrowding of our Federal prison system is a direct and proximate result of a proliferation of offenses carrying mandatory minimums. That is the basis of the Over-Criminalization Task Force. Again, I applaud the Judiciary Committee for that.

Heretofore, we had the 100 to 1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine. We in the Judiciary Committee changed that, along with the Senate. The President signed that legislation.

We now know the cost of imprisoning so many nonviolent offenders is fiscally unsustainable and morally unjustifiable. Remember, my emphasis has been that which is within the context of the law. And the legislation that I offered for the good time, early release was for nonviolent offenders.

It will take the combined efforts of policymakers, reform advocates, legal professionals, and private citizens to solve the problem. I can assure you there is a bar of lawyers that are interested in making sure that their clients come under the law and are treated fairly under the law.

My amendment gives life to this question by allowing the Attorney General, whoever it might be, to act within the law.

Just quickly, I give an example of Clarence Aaron of Mobile, Alabama, who was arrested in 1992 with 20 kilograms of power cocaine and distributed it as crack cocaine. It was in 1992. He received an enormous sentence. He was a first-time offender, and received a life sentence.

These are the kinds of issues that can be addressed if we are acting within the law.

My amendment simply says to act within the law using the authority that is given and to be able to address these questions of the overincarceration of persons and to give people a second chance.

I ask my colleagues to support my amendment.

Thank you for this opportunity to briefly explain my amendment.

Let me offer my appreciation and thanks to Ranking Member FATTAH and to Chairman WOLF for their work on this legislation and decades long commitment to the administration of justice and to developing sensible reforms to make our criminal justice system better.

Thank you for the opportunity to explain my amendment, which is simple, straightforward, and makes a positive contribution to the problem of overcrowding in our federal prisons.

The United States incarcerates nearly 25 percent of the world's inmates, even though it only has 5 percent of the world's population.

Thirty years ago, there were less than 30,000 inmates in the federal system; today, there are nearly 216,000, an increase of 800 percent!

No other country imprisons a larger percentage of its population than the United States or spends anywhere near the $6.5 billion that we spend annually on prison administration.

The Jackson Lee Amendment will help alleviate this overcrowding by clarifying that nothing in the bill prohibits the Attorney General from exercising his statutory authorities to expand the use of executive clemency to address prison overcrowding and redress sentencing injustices so long as he does so in a manner consistent with law and the Constitution.

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