Democrats urge colleagues to oppose prison reform bill

Several Democratic lawmakers are urging their Democratic colleagues to oppose a prison reform bill considered a key priority for White House adviser Jared Kushner.

Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Kamala Harris (Calif.) and Cory Booker (N.J.), as well as Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and John Lewis (D-Ga.), sent a letter on Thursday to Democrats in the House and Senate warning that the legislation “would in fact be a step backwards.”

{mosads}”We are unwilling to support flawed prison reform legislation that does not include sentencing reform,” the Democratic lawmakers added in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill.

The letter comes as Congress is stalemated over passing criminal justice reform legislation.

House Republicans, as well as Kushner, who is also President Trump’s son-in-law, say that Congress should pass a bill limited to prison reform because it would be the only thing that Trump would sign.

An aide told The Hill last week that a narrow bill could be brought up for a vote next month. It would provide funding for programs aimed at reducing the likelihood of inmates committing new crimes once released from prison.

That bill picked up Democratic support this week, including from Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who challenged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her position in 2016.

But Democratic senators and GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) want any bill to include sentencing reform. Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Durbin have introduced legislation that would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses while increasing mandatory minimums for other offenses, such as domestic violence.

The Democratic lawmakers added in their Thursday letter they are willing to support including prison reform in the legislation if it is necessary to get it through a GOP-controlled Congress.

“We have supported prison reform legislation … as part of broader criminal justice reform legislation that includes critical reforms to federal sentencing laws,” they wrote.

The Democrats outlined several objections to the prison reform bill, including inadequate funding. They added that it could also create discriminatory policies and would give Attorney General Jeff Sessions “too much discretion.”

“We cannot ignore the fact that the [legislation] … would be implemented by Attorney General Sessions, a vocal opponent of prison reform, and that the legislation gives him significant discretion,” they wrote.

Sessions has also been deeply opposed to broader criminal justice reform. He, along with GOP Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.), David Perdue (Ga.) and Orrin Hatch (Utah), were the most vocal critics of a previous bill rolled out by Durbin and Grassley.