Late last night, the Senate passed First Step, the leniency legislation that will free many thousands of felons from federal prison and shorten the sentences of many thousands of future felons. The vote was 87-12.
Here are the 12 courageous Republicans who resisted pressure from the Trump administration and from big-money interest groups like the Koch Brothers, and voted to protect the public from the hardened criminals who populate federal prisons:
Barrasso (WY)
Cotton (AR)
Enzi (WY)
Kennedy (LA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Murkowski (AK)
Risch (ID)
Rounds (SD)
Rubio (FL)
Sasse (NE)
Shelby (AL)
Sullivan (AK)
Here are the Republicans who voted for the legislation. They are accountable for the crimes that will be committed by the felon-beneficiaries of First Step during periods when they would have been in federal prison absent the legislation. Most of these crimes will be committed years from now, when these Senators have passed on or become lobbyists, by future felons whose sentences will be shorter. But many will be committed by current felons who are released early. And some of them will be particularly heinous.
I have bolded the names of GOP Senators who pushed hard for this legislation and, indeed, for its more lenient predecessor a few years ago. (Note: Lindsey Graham didn’t vote yesterday, but has been a leader of the push for jailbreak legislation this year and in the past).
Alexander (TN)
Blunt (MO)
Boozman (AR)
Burr (NC)
Capito (WV)
Cassidy (LA)
Collins (ME)
Corker (TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (ID)
Cruz (TX)
Daines (MT)
Ernst (IA)
Fischer (NE)
Flake (AZ)
Gardner (CO)
Grassley (IA)
Hatch (UT)
Heller (NV)
Hoeven (ND)
Hyde-Smith (MS)
Inhofe (OK)
Isakson (GA)
Johnson (WI)
Lankford (OK)
Lee (UT)
McConnell (KY)
Moran (KS)
Paul (KY)
Perdue (GA)
Portman (OH)
Roberts (KS)
Scott (SC)
Thune (SD)
Tillis (NC)
Toomey (PA)
Wicker (MS)
Young (IN)
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