In shift, Senate to vote on criminal justice bill

at least 34 senators, including Democrats and Republicans, had signed onto the bill.

“We have the votes. We’re very confident,” George Hartmann, a spokesman from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told USA TODAY Tuesday.

Grassley, one of the lead sponsors, and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois had launched a full-court press to push for action on the measure.

The effort is not new. Republican and Democratic lawmakers had pushed for years to reform the criminal justice system, but efforts stalled often over issues such as mandatory minimum sentencing.

The House passed a criminal justice reform bill earlier this year, but advocates complained it didn’t address the controversial issue of mandatory minimum sentencing.

The Senate bill among other things includes provisions that give judges more discretion in sentencing offenders for nonviolent crime, particularly drug offenders, and aims to improve rehabilitation programs for former prisoners.

“We’ve never been closer,” Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said last Tuesday at a panel hosted by the Washington Post Live Center. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t take a vote. This bill needs to pass this year.”

Supporters of criminal justice reform said action on legislation is long overdue.

“Mass incarceration is probably one of the largest civil rights atrocities that currently exist,” said Inimai M. Chettiar, director of the Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Some advocates complain the Senate bill doesn’t go far enough to address concerns, such as systemic racism that leads to unfair sentencing.

But some applaud the effort to at least begin overhauling the criminal justice system. “What’s important is that if Washington does it, I think it encourages more states to do it as well,” Chettiar said.

With a busy legislative agenda, McConnell said senators should be prepared to work during the holiday week if necessary.