McConnell agrees to vote on Trump-backed criminal justice bill

[brooklynite]

Source: The Hill

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Tuesday that he will bring up a bipartisan criminal justice bill up for a vote, marking a significant win for supporters including President Trump.

"At the request of the president and following improvements to the legislation that has been secured by several members, the Senate will take up the recently revised criminal justice bill," McConnell said from the Senate floor.

Backers and advocates have been publicly and privately lobbying McConnell for months to bring the bill to the floor, arguing that they have at least 70 votes in support of the legislation. The bill, spearheaded by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), merges a House-passed prison reform bill aimed at reducing recidivism with four changes to sentencing laws.

McConnell's remarks are a dramatic turn around from last week, when he appeared to warn at a Wall Street Journal event that he did not have time to move the criminal justice bill this year, which he said could take up to 10 days.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/420750-mcconnell-agrees-to-vote-on-trump-backed-criminal-justice-bill

[sinkingfeeling]

1. But Tom Cotton doesn't like it.

[KCDebbie]

2. I have no idea what is in the bill but if Trump is backing

It, it must be a boon to the for-profit prison industry...

[ancianita]

3. This is more about the Republicans than Trump. Besides the fact that it's backed by Dems, they're

trying to show distance from Trump these days, who, they believe, hurt their mid-term outcomes.

According to The Hill's link,

the bill, spearheaded by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), merges a House-passed prison reform bill aimed at reducing recidivism with four changes to sentencing laws.

McConnell says,

It’s extremely divisive inside the Senate Republican Conference, in fact there are more members in my conference that are either against it or undecided than or for it

Ted Cruz and David Purdue back it, which shows some positivity toward the Dems' version.

[apnu]

4. That makes me wonder how this will pass the Senate

If the Republican party is divided and/or undecided, they must have enough Dem votes, plus a couple of Republicans to pass it. I wonder how many Dems and Indys... all of them?

[ancianita]

6. We'll see. They'll lead the way in bipartisanship, deny 45 his wall AND his govt shutdown.

[angrychair]

5. Sorry, fuck it if trump supports it

There is a shit in there somewhere to screw people, likely poc, and help make trump’s friends rich.

Anything trump wants is automatically toxic.

[watoos]

7. No, the Bill is ok, the problem with it is, it doesn't go far enough.

It's a token prison reform bill, a small first step.