Op-ed: Time for bipartisan deal-making on criminal justice reform

Jason Pye, FreedomWorks Vice President of Legislative Affairs, and Sarah Anderson, Policy Analyst, in The Washington Examiner:

"Competing visions for criminal justice reform may prevent the Senate from taking any action on one of President Trump’s domestic policy initiatives. The lack of movement isn’t out of any significant opposition to the effort. Instead, the gridlock comes from whether to include modest sentencing reforms backed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

"Politics are playing a role in the discussion. Democrats with their eyes on the party’s presidential nomination view criminal justice reform as a campaign issue. Selfishly killing the FIRST STEP Act for little more than political gain risks infecting criminal justice reform with the same toxicity that has plagued immigration reform proponents, not to mention that it also denies much-needed relief to communities, families, and individuals who have been severely affected by crime."