On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to cosponsor the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act, S. 2566. Introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and cosponsored by Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act would prohibit the practice of federal judges increasing sentences for charges for which the defendant has been acquitted.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing titled “Keeping Congress Accountable: Term Limits In the United States.” Chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the primary sponsor of the Senate’s constitutional amendment to impose term limits on Congress, the hearing included testimony from former-Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) as well as from a panel of two professors -- Lynda W. Powell and Dr. John David Rausch, Jr. -- alongside Nick Tomboulides, the Executive Director of the nonprofit group U.S. Term Limits.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and senators and ask them to support the CREATES Act, H.R. 965 and S. 340. Introduced in the House by Reps. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) and in the Senate by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the CREATES Act would lower prescription drug prices by giving competitors greater standing to sue pharmaceutical companies for predatory, monopolistic practices.

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed cloture on the motion to concur to the House amendment to S. 756. The bill will serve as the vehicle for the First Step Act, the prison and sentencing reform bill supported by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Today, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives are meeting to negotiate the final text of the Farm Bill, H.R. 2. The Farm Bill is an $860 billion spending bill that funds U.S. agricultural activities. This will impact farmers across the nation and it is important for the conferees to consider much-needed reforms that will last for years.

FreedomWorks is proud to announce that our bill of the month for September 2018 is the CREATES Act, H.R. 2212, introduced by Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) and S. 974, introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R- Iowa) and Pat Leahy (D-Vt.).

Retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) which became law in 2010 and reduced the sentencing disparity for crack and powder cocaine from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1 has been a hotly contested issue in the criminal justice space. The primary concern from those opposed to retroactivity, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is that allowing offenders to petition the court for a review and reduction in their sentence could result in violent criminals being released to the streets, putting public safety at risk.