In 2015, Congressman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) started a movement to remove then-Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-Ohio), from his position. Of this effort, Meadows said, "It's really more about trying to have a conversation on making this place work, where everybody's voice matters, where there's not a punitive culture. Hopefully, we'll have some discussion about that in the days and weeks to come."

The Senate and the House are in session this week.

Before diving into the details of the Senate’s version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, let’s run through the latest in the House of Representatives. The lower chamber’s version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, H.R. 1, was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday, November 9 in a party-line vote.

The House and Senate are in session this week.

The House and Senate are in session this week.

The House and Senate are in session this week.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to support the Mens Rea Reform Act, S. 1902, introduced by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), David Perdue (R-Ga.), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The bill would address over-criminalization at the federal level, setting a default intent standard for all federal criminal laws and regulations currently lacking mens rea protections. The proposed default intent standard would require the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant acted willfully in order to obtain a conviction.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to support the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, S. 1917, introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). The bill would address overincarceration concerns in the United States federal prison system, where nearly half of prisoners are serving sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, and many of those for first-time offenses.