Vice President Mike Pence and President Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner met behind closed doors with Republicans Tuesday in a bid to sell a criminal justice reform proposal to skeptical GOP lawmakers.
Pence did most of the talking, senators said.
“Sharply divided opinion in the conference, but a respectful debate,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who opposes the bill, said after the meeting.
President Trump and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are pushing for Congress to take up the legislation by year’s end and before Democrats retake the House in 2019, when they might make changes to the bill that Republicans won’t favor.
[Opinion: Trump is right to embrace criminal justice reform]
“If it doesn’t happen this year, it’s probably never going to happen,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said after the meeting. “Next year you’ll have Democratic control of the House, it will probably go places I can’t go, you’ll end up doing nothing.“
But Republican leaders haven’t scheduled it for a vote, and time is running out. The Senate is set to adjourn in mid-December and lawmakers have several big agenda items to complete, including a spending bill that is far from resolved.
“At the moment it’s an open question,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the incoming majority whip, told reporters Tuesday when asked if the bill would make it to the floor this year. The meeting with Pence and Kushner “moved the ball and moved the process forward.”
Thune said Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, didn’t address the conference.
“He was there, but the vice president was making the arguments on behalf of the administration,” Thune said.
Thune and proponents of the bill say small changes could bring on board a group of undecided GOP lawmakers and strengthen the chances of passing the legislation.
Some lawmakers say they fear the bill will allow the early release of violent and dangerous criminals.
The National Sheriff’s Association is opposed to the bill without changes related to the early release of criminals.
The legislation adds new options to earn credit for earlier release and gives judges more sentencing flexibility.
“I think the Sheriff’s Association’s concerns, they have five, I think we can meet some of those,” Graham said.
“Can you make a few changes? Yes. If you do does that get most people on board? Probably so.”
