When a bipartisan group of senators appeared before the media on Thursday to introduce the most comprehensive set of federal criminal justice reforms in decades, Chuck Grassley’s presence was more than a little surprising.
The Iowa GOP senator has long embraced the “tough-on-crime” policies that defined the Republican Party’s approach to criminal justice over the last generation. And for a long time, Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, was seen as the primary obstacle to reform. Just a few months ago, reform advocates were writing pieces about Grassley’s role in holding up reform with headlines like: “Will one man keep Americans locked up in prison?”
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., noted on Thursday that Grassley had been “very skeptical” about reform. In March, Grassley gave a floor speech voicing his strong opposition to reform provisions and accusing the “leniency industrial complex” of misleading the public about reform.
Grassley’s using more conciliatory language these days. That’s because the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 is the product of compromise. It would reduce enhanced penalties for repeat drug offenders, eliminate some mandatory life provisions and curtail the use of solitary confinement for juvenile offenders, among other things.
But the legislation would also add new mandatory minimum sentences for interstate domestic abuse and for providing support to terrorists, while strengthening penalties for certain other crimes. As Grassley told reporters last week, “What brought me along was the ability to look at more things than reducing minimums.”
In other words, reform advocates were willing to compromise to secure Grassley’s support, and Grassley was willing to compromise with them. “There are things in here that each of us likes,” Grassley told reporters. “There are items that each of us would rather do without. But this is how the process works here in the Congress.”
Or as Durbin put it: “We are political odd couples. But we found common ground.”
Grassley went into more detail in a Des Moines Register op-ed over the weekend, writing that his support for the legislation “reflects carefully crafted sentencing reforms to achieve fairness, justice and fidelity to the rule of law.” He writes that “There’s a fine line between leniency and levelheadedness. That’s why I’m working for balanced reforms that do not compromise public safety and national security.”
In an email, Taylor Foy, Grassley’s press secretary on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Examiner “Chairman Grassley has long said that he was willing to have a conversation with his colleagues on a thoughtful approach to sentencing reform that didn’t simply slice sentences across the board. His colleagues took him up on that offer. Grassley led months of bipartisan negotiations to reach this landmark agreement, which addresses federal prison population concerns while protecting communities from career criminals and violent offenders.”
Marc Levin, policy director for Right on Crime, a coalition of conservative groups pushing for justice reform, hinted at how much progress has been made this year to get bipartisan agreement in the Judiciary Committee. “We greatly appreciate Chairman Grassley’s leadership on the bipartisan package and his openness to listening to all sides and considering all of the evidence,” Levin wrote in an email to the Examiner. “Six months ago countless people told me nothing will ever come out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on sentencing reform, but that has now been proven wrong.”
The bill will likely be considered by the Judiciary Committee this month, and a committee vote may take place on Oct. 22.
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner.
