Chairman Goodlatte’s Prepared Remarks at Press Conference on Bipartisan Sentencing Reform Legislation

Washington, D.C.  – As part of the House Judiciary Committee’s criminal justice reform initiative, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.), Congressman Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Congressman Mike Bishop (R-Mich.), and Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-Calif.) today announced bipartisan legislation to reform federal sentencing. Below are Chairman Goodlatte’s prepared remarks at today’s press conference. The bill will be introduced later today.   Chairman Goodlatte: “Good morning and thank you all for being here with us today. Today is an exciting day and one that has been in the making for over two years. “At the start of my chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee in 2013, I created a bipartisan Over-Criminalization Task Force to look at the criminal justice system and the laws on the books to determine how best we can improve the system. “And in June of this year, Ranking Member John Conyers and I announced a bipartisan criminal justice reform initiative. We don’t always agree on everything, but we do agree that criminal justice reform is not a liberal or conservative issue; it’s an American issue. “As part of the Committee’s initiative, we have been pursuing responsible, common sense reforms to ensure our criminal justice system reflects core American values. We want to make sure our federal laws and regulations effectively and appropriately punish wrongdoers, protect individual freedom, safeguard civil liberties, work as efficiently and fairly as possible, do not impede state efforts, and do not waste taxpayer dollars. “We have been working for months to identify solutions on issues such as over-criminalization, sentencing reform, prison and reentry reform, improved criminal procedures and policing strategies, and civil asset forfeiture reform. And today, we are unveiling our first piece of legislation: the Sentencing Reform Act. “This bill is companion legislation to the sentencing provisions contained in the Senate bill introduced by Senators Grassley, Durbin, and others last week. Our bill makes commonsense changes to the front-end of the criminal justice system. It reduces certain mandatory minimums for drug offenses, including the three-strike mandatory life sentence to 25 years. It broadens the existing safety valve for low-level drug offenders and provides judges with greater discretion in determining appropriate sentences. “Most importantly, however, the bill contains important limitations to ensure that serious violent criminals serve the full time for their crimes in prison. It also contains sentencing enhancements for trafficking in fentanyl, a highly dangerous drug 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine, which is often “cut” with heroin and has led to a surge of overdose deaths across the country. “The House Judiciary Committee plans to move the Sentencing Reform Act through the Committee soon and will roll out additional criminal justice reform bills over the coming weeks. “I want to thank all of the Members who are here today for their work on this issue. I especially want to thank Ranking Member Conyers and Congresswoman Jackson Lee for the many years that they have worked on criminal justice reform and for their willingness to find common ground with me on this issue.” Background on the Sentencing Reform Act: The Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 reduces certain mandatory minimums for drug offenses, reduces the three-strike mandatory life sentence to 25 years, broadens the existing safety valve for low-level drug offenders, and provides judges with greater discretion in determining appropriate sentences while ensuring that serious violent felons do not get out early. The bill also contains sentencing enhancements for Fentanyl trafficking, a highly addictive and deadly drug that is becoming a growing epidemic in the United States. The Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 is the first bill that is a result of the House Judiciary Committee’s criminal justice reform initiative. The Committee continues to work on additional bills that address other aspects of our criminal justice system, including over-criminalization, prison and reentry reform – including youth and juvenile justice issues – improved criminal procedures and policing strategies, and civil asset forfeiture reform. The Committee will roll out more bills addressing these topics over the coming weeks. A one-pager on the Sentencing Reform Act can be found here and section-by-section can be found here.