Administration again bypassing Congress
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April 27, 2014 |
By Congressman Raul Labrador
Last week, President Obama and Attorney General
Holder once again showed their disregard for our
nation’s laws and their refusal to follow the
system of checks and balances enshrined in our
Constitution.
This time, the Administration is eroding our
criminal justice system with an unprecedented
action - soliciting applications for clemency
from a specific class of federal offenders: in
this case, non-violent drug offenders.
According to the Administration, many of these
offenders are serving disproportionally long
prison terms. I agree that we need to rethink
how we sentence first time non-violent drug
offenders.
The problem is that the Administration is taking
this action without Congressional authorization.
Only Congress has the power to change our
criminal sentencing laws, but the Administration
is moving ahead without us.
The irony is that I have already introduced
legislation to bring common sense to our
criminal sentencing laws, empowering judges to
determine, on an individual basis, whether the
harshest sentences should apply for certain
non-violent offenders.
The name of my bill is the Smarter Sentencing
Act, and have I introduced it with my colleague,
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA). Today, it has 26
cosponsors in both parties. A Senate version of
the bill – introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin
(D-IL) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) has already
passed the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Organizations from across the political spectrum
have endorsed our bill – the NAACP, the ACLU,
Heritage Action, the Constitution Project, among
many others.
And yet – despite the bipartisan work that’s
already been achieved, and despite the momentum
that we’ve managed to create – the
Administration refuses to work with us. They’ve
chosen to go off on their own, break the law,
and further erode whatever trust still exists
between Congress and the White House.
I confronted Attorney General Holder about this
strategy at a hearing of the House Judiciary
Committee earlier this month.
I told Mr. Holder, “One area where we agree is
on the Smarter Sentencing Act… [but] you make my
job more difficult when you act unilaterally -
as you have…and try to do the same thing through
memos that we’re trying to accomplish through
this legislation…So I’m extending to you my hand
right now, to work with you to help pass the
Smarter Sentencing Act. But could you please
help me try to pass the Smarter Sentencing Act
by not going around the law…but actually working
with Congress?”
The Attorney General didn’t really answer my
question. And the action he took this week -
reassigning dozens of attorneys to his Pardon
Attorney’s Office to accommodate the expected
surge in clemency applications – shows that he
is not serious about working with Congress and
getting the job done.
I really don’t understand the logic of this
Administration. Even in situations where
Republicans and Democrats are working together
in a bipartisan way to implement policies that
the Administration itself favors – and even in
situation where we are making progress in
achieving a common goal – the Administration
decides to act unilaterally, go around Congress,
and prevent us from achieving a real, long-term
solution
I will continue to champion the Smarter
Sentencing Act – it’s a good bill and I’m proud
of the support it’s getting from across the
political spectrum – but the Administration is
making it harder, not easier, to make it the law
of the land. And on bigger issues – from health
care to immigration to the debt – it’s
impossible to see much progress until the
President starts acting in a more transparent
and responsible way. |
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