Since Republican's had engaged in shenanigans to pack the court with ultra-right wing conservative justices. I propose that Democrats - once they achieve a 2/3 majority in the senate begin impeachment proceedings against all conservative justices installed during the Trump administration. I believe this will be possible in 2022.
2
What was the "great personal cost" to Grassley?
4
The minimum wage in the State of Kentucky is $7.25 per hour. 1 in 7 residents rely on food stamps. Although in fairness to old Mitch, Kentuckly is merely 14th on the list of most-food-stamp user states(or, as I like to think of the list: states with the most businesses subsidized by the federal government so that they can continue pay low, low low wages).
Just another enduring human legacy of Mitch and his cronies. "Mission Accomplished" as previous disasterous Republican leader once said.
8
Go ahead and stall the legislation, McConnell. It's more ammo that can be used against you in 2020.
1
Good luck, Grassley. McConnell is infamous for shamelessly reneging on his promises and conveniently walking back on his words and deals in order to save his own skin, so have fun trying to pressure him into holding up his end.
That being said, we do need to overhaul our criminal justice system. I'm not saying give pardons out like candy, but policies need to be relooked and updated wherever necessary.
McConnell is a poster child for despicable old men. Fortunately, their reign is nearly over. And I say that as one of his generation.
8
Murders, rapists, thieves, and all convicted felons, drug dealers and worse are where they should be...in a cage ...and should stay there... this is called justice and protection of law abiding citizens .
With the proven level of repeat offenders reducing penalties is bad public policy and guarantees more violent crime.
3
What kind of poison pill does this legislation have for all of these terrible people to support it?
3
Although this bill should certainly be acted upon expeditiously, there is certainly a wicked delight in observing these craven, unprincipled Senate Republicans throw verbal rocks at one another. May there emerge in the Senate an offshoot of that crazy Freedom Caucus that drove Ryan around the bend in the House. Cantankerous Cotton would be its perfect leader there, creating multiple migraines for the well-deserving McConnell. Perfect karma!
1
Given McConnell's basic proclivity to obstruct, this is perhaps no surprise. But depending on how questions are posed, between 75 and 90% of the general population favors criminal justice reform--including some very conservative organizations ( https://www.coalitionforpublicsafety.org/about ).
McConnell is none too popular in Kentucky these days, hence I wonder if he might consider leaving the Senate when he is up for reelection in 2020. Or does he think that he'll get more money continuing to obstruct? His disapproval numbers are very high (55-60%). His approval has fluctuated, but 30% is about the best he can muster.
McConnell is unlikely to leave the stage gracefully.
6
Good ole Obstructionist Mitch in full glory - nothing gets done unless his rich oligarch donor buddies say it's okay.
8
Of course the president is pushing for these changes. He may not be president when he and/or various members appear before a judge to receive their prison sentences...hence he won’t have the ability to pardon them or himself. He needs lighter prison sentences to be available. An interesting thought is that...as much as I would like tRump to be investigated... tried ...found guilty and sentenced right away...there is the possibility that he might be able to pardon himself. After his defeat in 2020 he will definitely not have the power to pardon himself. I strongly doubt that the newly elected Democratic president will choose to do so. Sigh. My fantasy.
2
I don’t understand why some Republicans are supporting these reforms. The reforms appear to be humane and effective in reducing recidivism and imprisonment costs. I thought more punishment for smaller offences was ‘reflex’ Republican orthodoxy. Can someone explain?
9
Senator Grassley must simply refuse to move forward with any judicial nominations until this bill is brought to a floor vote.
14
@Tony Cochran
Just like Susan Collins just needed to refuse to vote for the tax bill until she got her healthcare protections. Unfortunately, they will both prove to be pushovers before McConnell's lies. They'll be used just like everybody else.
3
Senator Lee is correct; this is a compromise with a sell by date. It will do a lot a good, not enough perhaps but will help society.
It is not clear what motivates Senator Cotton besides untrammeled ambition Meaner than a junkyard dog.
7
How do a relatively small number of Kentuckians get to dictate the entire country's direction for so many years via this guy? Its time for a serious attempt at term limits.
13
I must have missed it on the news...when was McConnell coronated?
8
He is the senate majority leader. It’s the way the system works
1
@X . . . which is why voting for your "good" Republican, like a Susan Collins, is a huge mistake.
(Yes, I realize it is an oxymoron, hence the quotation marks.)
1
Oh, come on, Mitch: Stop being completely useless.
I have a cat that works harder than you do.
Is it really true that if not for "voter suppression" that you fear that no Republican would ever be elected again?
Is it true that you are furious that Florida voted to re-instate ex-felon's right to vote?
Time is running out, Mitch, for Republicans.
We truly are tired of your "NO!" routine.
It was poison when Obama was president, but now that he has been gone for 2 years, your do-nothing routine just proves that not a one of you have anything between your ears. You have no Plan.
2020 is almost upon us.
We are going to vote in vast numbers then, too.
Time flies, Mitch.....
13
Do not support this. It is actually a great and needed idea, but Trump supports it. Democrats cannot take the chance of giving Trump a chance to claim credit. So Dems, block this. People may get hurt, but politics is more important.
1
@Gino G
" People may get hurt, but politics is more important."
Sorry, evil like that is not a "both sides" problem.
4
McConnell has done more damage to our democracy than anyone, ever. And yes, that includes Trump.
People of Kentucky, you are responsible for this mess. Fix it.
16
I'd like to see the NY Times do an in depth piece on the people that vote for McConnell. What are they thinking when they cast their votes for him. Do they think at all?
13
@susan Having lived through McConnell's six campaigns for the Senate, I would say he wins because 1) his advertising is almost 100% negative, and is effective. He knows how to appeal to people's worst instincts; and 2) he knows the state of Kentucky right down to the precinct level. For him, politics is blood sport and he does whatever is necessary to defeat his opponent. So, to answer your question, most people don't vote FOR McConnell; they vote AGAINST his opponent.
6
Guess Mitch’s masters in the private prison industry are putting the pressure on.
19
McConnell understands that if you start by giving a break to the often poor minorities who have largely been imprisoned for drug crimes, before long you might also have to let those same people vote.
12
Whatever made Grassley think his party leader was a man of integrity?
6
Whatever made anyone think GRASSLEY is a man of integrity?
3
First off, it's not interparty division--there's ALWAYS that!--it's intraparty division. Clearly Grassley used up a lot of favors to get the judicial appointments that Trump and McConnell wanted, and now, he sees the note coming due, both the debt HE owes and the debt McConnell owes him.
Mike Lee, I must admit, is full of surprises. But Cotton is thug, albeit a smart thug, but a thug none-the-less, like McConnell, not a shred of empathy in his body. He must have been scary when he was in battle.
I cannot figure out how McConnell is thinking his caucus will split over voting on this, but not recognizing it can split by not voting on this. Or does he have another plan in mind? And what could that be?
4
For McConnell, everything is a political calculation. Right now he is preoccupied with flooding the federal judiciary with young, conservative, white, male judges who will control one branch of the government for decades to come. Compared to that, a bill that disproportionately benefits blacks is of little interest to him.
12
Which interest groups are lobbying against prison reform?
1) Jeff Sessions
2) Other white nationalists
3) The for-profit prison industry
4) Republicans in states where felons are not allowed to vote
5) The NRA.
See? There are "good people" on both sides of the issue.
14
THIS IS NOT NEW!!
..this IS the Republican party personified.
3
From Hastert to McConnell, we continue with the one man Senate and House. If the votes don't seem to be there, we don't vote. But that denies the voters of this country an opportunity to see how there Senator or Congressmen are doing. Look at all the work needed for this current bill to make it to the floor. All because one man has different ideas. If he shared his reasoning with other Senators and they agreed with him a vote would not be a problem. The reverse of that however, seems a big problem for McConnell. It seems we now have to twist arms to beg McConnell to put the bill on the floor. This is a crazy way to run any organization let alone our elected Congress.
10
Every time I see someone like McConnell carping about the need for bipartisanship, I nearly burst into flames. For eight years, he and the rest of the miserable GOP made it their sole purpose in life to thwart any move by Barack Obama no matter how trivial and no matter the cost to the nation. And now they have the unmitigated gall to wail about the lack of bipartisanship. It beggars belief.
25
McConnell could choose to keep the Senate in session over the Thanksgiving weekend to make time for this bill. His party is happy to showboat 5,800 troops along the border who'll miss their Thanksgiving.
As for me, the cognitive dissonance of finding myself in agreement with the Trump family on this issue will take more than a four day weekend to recover from.
10
Grassley and McConnell both lack honor and integrity. Both will age out soon.
7
Sad to say that as long as there is a GOP, there will always be a GOP-er to assume the scoundrel mantle...Sen. Jim Jordan, anyone?
1
Calling McConnell an "obstacle" is the softest and least descriptive label that fits him.
In the wake of the mid-term elections, the Senate Majority Leader hypocritically called for bipartisanship, and now he doubles down on his hypocrisy by blocking perhaps the only current legislative measure that actually DOES have support from both parties!
Poor America, beset by both Trump and McConnell in the same hour!
.
______________________
.
(BTW: "As intensity on both sides has increased, interparty tensions unusual in the modern Senate have spilled into public." -- Actually, interparty tensions are what Washington runs on; INTRAparty strife is what's worth mentioning these days. )
7
It's really terrible one man can control what effects all of American. Bring the bill up for a vote and see what happens.
7
McConnell doesn’t know how to govern because he’s been an obstructionist for too long. Can the good people of Kentucky please rid us of this political creature in 2020? Sadly for this country, he’s become our problem, too.
10
Hard to believe McConnel is an obstacle!
Cotton (the most vacant of them all) & McConnell (receiving plenty money from private prison lobby)... I swear Kentucky & Arkansas you really should ashamed at these two horrible people representing your states. Get rid of them.
9
Senator McConnell has no received his orders from President Vladimir Putin on the vote to overhaul the criminal justice system.
1
Mitch McConnell: Obstructionist-In-Chief
5
In most usages, “effect” is a noun and “affect” would be the verb you want in graf 21. The gutting of the copy section strikes again!
2
the old whites need to pass. they have had their opportunity for decades. and squandered most of it.
55 years old and caucasian myself. I tired of their obstenance.
5
But what will Mitch tell the private pri$on lobby?
4
The Kentucky Idiot has apparently learned at his master, Trump. What he is doing is just plain dumb, but he's stubborn and will not change. Remind you of someone?
3
McConnell has been doing it a lot longer than Trump. In Congress anyway.
Mitch McConnell and Grassley need to turn themselves into the nearest morgue.
5
The heat McConnell feels from the right, as your headline attests, is nothing compared to the heat he is going to feel in hell if there is any justice in the world.
The man is evil. I don't know how he sleeps at night or looks at his face in the mirror in the morning.
11
I am willing to donate money to defeat Mitch McConnell when he is up for reelection in 2 years. He should not be running the country by refusing to allow hearings for supreme court justices, preventing legislation to be brought to the floor to protect Robert Mueller, or to deny any legislation be brought up for a vote. Who died and made him king?
24
@SusanAnd his wife, Elaine Chou, is Secretary of Transportation. Look it up.
1
Somebody should run a check and see how many of the Republican holdouts either own stock in for profit prisons or receive campaign contributions from for profit prison companies and their executives. That will probably expose the real reason for their opposition.
15
They have the votes in the House and the Senate yet Mitch McConnell obstructs the voting. Is he confused? Does he still think Obama is President? That reflex to obstruct everything must be hard to overcome.
7
If this bill were really important to the Senate GOP they could force a vote on the floor. It just takes courage to overrule the Majority Leader. And look at the courage the Senate GOP has demonstrated in standing up the president.
Finally, for McConnell to say that there isn't time this year, that is a bunch of bunk. The majority of Americans feel lucky if they get the day after Thanksgiving off. The Senate takes two weeks.
Enough said.
12
I don’t understand how one person can hold so much power in Congress. I mean, I do understand how the Constitution works and all...but I don’t understand why someone like Mitch McConnell gets to hold a nation and future generations hostage.
While the sight of so many senior GOP Senators begging gives me a burst of Schadenfreude, I’d gladly trade it all for the sincere real world effects of a bipartisan effort.
5
@David S.
The power he (one man) wields is but a function of those who allow him to wield it. If they'd stand up and do their jobs he wouldn't appear omnipotent.
4
Becausethe basis of conservatism is fear and the method is loyalty to hierarchy. He's the majority leader and this is a bill about thinking of criminals as still people. 'Nuff said
4
When, when, when has McConnell ever done something benevolent for our country that is bi-partisan? He doesn't have an ounce of decency in his bones. I will give Ryan some credit for caring.
10
Under what idea of how Congress should work does the majority leader in either house refuse to allow a vote unless his own party fully supports it? That's not a new thought, but now the undemocratic "Hastert rule" of the House is explicitly enforced in the Senate.
8
The first bad assumption that Mr. McConnell’s Congressional colleagues have made is that he plans on running again in 2020. I don’t see that happening.
1
Mitch McConnell is up for re-election in 2020. Democrats, start your engines. The time is right this minute to find and support a candidate and laying the ground work for a GOTV plan. Speak to Harry Reid in Nevada about how what he's been doing there. Every state is different but Democrats need to get rid of Mitch no matter what. Don't be afraid to get into this fight, just bring better weapons this time because he is fearsome but the world is changing. We can't wait.
10
There are three ways to read this:
1. Senators like Cotton lack empathy and compassion.
2. Prisons are big business and donate heavily to Cotton, McConnell, etc.
3. Both 1 and 2 are correct.
31
We must remember that the citizens of Kentucky have been re-electing McConnell for many years. I surmise that they will continue on that path until until all the gold in Fort Knox has been carted away. When the unemployment rate in Harlan County hits 100% they might pay attention to who benefited and who got robbed.
7
Not exactly the way we learned how a bill becomes a law. I don’t remember Mitch McConnell in the video. If the Republicans want to expand their tent, they need to pass and take credit for common sense bipartisan legislation such as this. As demographics shift, maybe they also need a younger, more diverse leadership.
22
Who said they wanted to expand their tent?
3
Senators Lee, Paul, Grassley, and maybe others have at hand the means to create more time this year for the Senate to consider this bill. Announce, as Senator Flake has done regarding protection of the Special Counsel, that they will not be voting to confirm any judges until the First Step Act is brought to the floor for a vote.
The proposition that more hearings or debate is needed is fatuous. So too is the proposition that Senator Cotton is part of a small, powerful group of opponents. Cotton is a 41-year old, first-term senator in his fourth year in office, ranking 82nd in seniority.
Are McConnell and Cotton each too full of themselves?
44
Mitch McConnell always stands with power, and wealth; he has not often stood for justice nor decency. He is a modern conservative.
64
@JaGuaR I disagree... conservatives do stand for justice and decency. McConnell is not a conservative; he is an obstructionist. I do not understand why Kentucky citizens vote for him. What has he done to improve Kentucky?
6
@robert zitelli
I suspect you're in the minority here believing what conservatives actually do stand for based on their legislative actions, and not what they burble on Fox.
Look at what they've done to health care, to tax relief for other than the most wealthy, to the environment, to advancing human rights within and without the borders of the US, to upholding the separation of church and state.
None of their actions —not one, as far as I can tell— in the three branches of government they control could one characterise as advancing justice or decency. I wish you were right, but the proof isn't there.
9
@JaGuaR
He's a regressive obstructionist and a conservative of the worst kind.
1
If Mitch McConnell says there is no time to consider this bill, then Senate Republicans should give him the time--refuse to consider anything else. No judicial appointments, no budget, nothing--clear the decks.
If they believe in this, prove it. Show us. Take a stand.
71
The last time McConnell felt any heat was watching "The Summer of 42." In the theater. When it first came out.
23
Republican leaders actually passing legislation that does not benefit rich donors?
Remember that candy commercial about twenty years ago for the Snickers Bar: "Not going anywhere for a while? Have a Snicker!"
14
mitch mcconnel sees a chance to obstruct, and he takes it. why is anyone surprised?
21
"I have been there for you, Mr. Grassley told Mr. McConnell."
How sad Mr. Grassley was not there for the American people who believe in our democracy and Constitution when he violated President Obama's constitutional right to nominate a SCOTUS justice after the death of Scalia.
There is no honor - and no patriotism - to Grassley or McConnell.
The history of our great country will remember these two as a vile aberration which threatened to destroy our democracy.
128
Will give them credit where it is due. The GOP: for every three steps backward, one step forward.
10
Tough on crime? Maybe, but more like love the money that prisons make. As for the republicans that favor reform, not likely about humanity and social justice. Just a talking point for votes. Whatever we see in the Trump era is not what we get.
8
McConnell aside, the article almost reads like a glimpse into an alternate universe where Republicans are actually a functional governing party.
9
@Roarke, don't kid yourself.
The Grand One Percent party know who pays them for a living...and it's not the majority of Americans.
9
our governing statues are so bizarre that the senate majority leader has more sway than ALL of the elected senators and ALL the elected Representatives and THE elected President (whether you like him or not - I don’t) this is ridiculous.
31
Interesting how mass incarceration of urban minorities for drug offenses was okay for three decades, but now that the opioid epidemic is affecting suburban and rural areas (and probably sending more white people to prison), suddenly right wingers are championing criminal justice reform.
88
Bingo
10
@Adam Koeppel - wow..excellent point.
2
McConnell and the GOP are big supporters of private prisons. They are huge cash cows for them at tax payer expense. If you let people out of prison for non-violent offenses, they will lose money.
35
Maybe McConnell wants to please his donors from the private prisons lobby
57
In general, in the US, any cultural belief or ideological position, that stems from America's puritan roots, is probably an idea that should be forgotten.
If there is/was ever something that consistently lead to the wrong conclusion in America, it is/was Puritanism. Whether it is drugs and alcohol, gender, criminal justice, science, whatever, Puritan based thought is almost always silly.
10
@Joe
Well, they executed Quakers. Wasn't that something?
1
McConnell is the personification of modern conservatism's meanness...
35
@HapinOregon "meanness" is way too kind.
'inhumanity' personifies the Party of Death to the non-rich.
10
Can the Times do an analysis of who Mitch McConnell's donors are? This doesn't add up. Likely he has some financial interest that he is hiding here...why would he be so enamored with the industrial prison complex?
30
Interestingly, McConnell got about $900,000 in contributions from companies that describes their business as “real estate”. CoreCivic, (formerly the Corrections Corporation of America), the second largest operator of private prisons in America, is classified as a “real estate investment trust”.
Probably just a coincidence.
124
Broad bipartisan support. Support from Trump. Are you doing it just to be mean? Why Mitch, why?
6
@Dave in Seattle Read David Eike's post at the top for your answer.
Just one more data point to prove that Mitch McConnell is the most evil and racist man in America. Really a pity he is in such a powerful position to make policy that affects all of us.
20
It's increasingly jarring to see White, male, senior citizens, who should be living in Florida retirement communities, instead controlling the fate of millions of Americans.
I cannot wait to see them gone, in every sense of the word.
96
@Diane B
Not just the males; don't single them out. They could really use Ms. Pelosi for mixed doubles at the pickleball court.
@Diane B
In the grave,by all means necessary,as Malcom X once suggested.
5
@Diane B
Be fair; there’s white, then there’s McConnell. But let’s not forget Clarence Thomas.
6
What is Mitch thinking?
The criminal justice system has successfully criminalized being black, emancipated those that commit crimes against blacks (based on the oft-repeated notion that blacks commit crimes against blacks too, ergo there is nothing wrong with white cops killing blacks at random). The system has produced a vast prison bureaucracy that sucks up $60K per inmate (i.e., good for business). And their constituencies respond very well to "law and order" appeals.
I.e., in the republican handbook, this is all good. With all undesirables locked up - regardless of crime or reason - they are freed up to act out their ethnic nationalist agenda.
Why is Mitch messing with that? Has he forgotten from whence he came?
5
What would he possibly gain from blocking this? A weasel of a man, a first class white supremacist and a long lasting stain on human decency. That's the definition of Mitch McConnell.
39
McConnell is the classic odious politician.
15
It’s amazing to me how cowardly the senate gop are. They seem to keep wanting to turn up the torture on themselves because.... wait for it.... those red state senators who represent a small fraction of the electorate will come to the rescue. Why?
4
I’m sorry, but Ivanka’s comment ranks as the height of hypocrisy given the child separation policy at the border
17
Mitch Mcconnell had his feelings surgically removed years ago.He feels nothing.
13
@susan mccall
Mitch does feel one thing.
Complete contempt for the American people... and especially non-white Americans and non-white Presidents.
8
I would assume the reason he is trying to avoid passing this reform is donations from private prisons. A quick Google search seems to indicate this is the case.
16
So the old white guys in the Senate are finally worried about the cost of incarcerating so many minority folk.
How humane of them.
45
Mitch McConnell wants only for people to suffer.
He has consolidated power for the sole purpose of increasing the suffering of regular Americans. There is nothing he has done or proposes to do that would improve life for anyone, but his friends the emotionless, faceless corporations.
Mitch McConnell is the ultimate down-turned mouthpiece for a party that couldn't, nay wouldn't, solve a problem if the solution were right in front of them.
88
Mitch McConnell is a good ole' boy, happy enough to just keep America's age-old Grand Old Plantation economics and Reverse Robin Hood Robber Baron rigged system rolling down the tracks using the divide and scare and fear tactics that has Made America A Confederacy Again.
America's reprehensibly racist drug laws and police-prison-prosecutor-judiciary-industrial complex has been railroading Americans of color into Grand Old Prison for eons, destroying tens of millions on non-white lives in the process while letting milky white people drive on home for the same marijuana and drug offenses that get blacks and Latinos locked up for for years.
McConnell, whose 'greatest accomplishment' was suspending the Constitution when a black President tried to staff the Supreme Court, wants to make sure white America doesn't go too easy on the lives that white America has systematically persecuted for 400 years.
What a disgusting American.
160
@Socrates
McConnell has an approval rating lower than a root canal without Novocain. He promised to obstruct the entire Obama presidency and he delivered malignantly. He blocked the nomination of a highly qualified Supreme Court nominee who actually had bipartisan support, Merritt Garland. He refuses to protect the Mueller investigation and now is slow-walking justice reform. NOBODY behaves like this unless they are in the pocket of big money. Perhaps he should be higher on the list for investigation by both journalists and the new Democratic Majority? Expose him for the craven hack he is....the citizens of Kentucky and all America deserve the truth.
20
@Socrates
Karma will catch up with Mitch and it will not be pleasant to his chi.
10
@Socrates
McConnell is cruel.............and just might have some 'private penitentiary ' stock.
10