releases: https://labrador.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&itemid=917
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://labrador.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&itemid=917 | ICYMI: PAUL RYAN & WASHINGTON POST ENDORSE LABRADOR BILL TO REFORM CRIMINAL SENTENCING LAWS | 2014-07-24 | 2014 | 2014-07 | Republican | House | ID | Raúl Labrador | L000573 | labrador.house.gov | legacy | In a speech today at the American Enterprise Institute, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, endorsed Rep. Raúl Labrador’s bill to reform criminal sentencing laws. Rep. Labrador’s bill, H.R. 3382, the Smarter Sentencing Act, would allow courts to make individualized assessments in nonviolent drug cases, ensuring that limited resources are focused on the most serious offenders, while maintaining public safety. In his prepared remarks, Chairman Ryan said, “We need commonsense criminal-justice reform. We need to give people the opportunity to earn a second chance. Luckily, my colleagues have done a lot of good work on this front. Senator Mike Lee and Congressmen Raul Labrador and Bobby Scott have introduced a bill to reform our sentencing guidelines. It would give judges more discretion with low-risk, non-violent offenders. All we’re saying is, they don’t have to give the maximum sentence every time. There’s no reason to lock someone up any longer than necessary.” In addition, the Washington Post published an editorial today, Congress Should Reform the Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Drug Offenses. The Post stated, “The core of the problem — overly tough mandatory minimum sentences and the difficulty in reintegrating ex-prisoners into society — can be addressed only by Congress…Luckily, two bills are pending that precisely address these issues. The Smarter Sentencing Act would reform how prisoners are sentenced… The second bill, the Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act, reforms the way prisoners reintegrate into society…Sponsors of these two proposals are negotiating on whether to bundle them together. Whether that is successful or not, both bills should pass. They will help lower the crime rate in the long run, bring proportionality back into punishments and save millions of dollars a year.” The Smarter Sentencing Act has 47 House cosponsors and the Senate version of the bill has already passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill has been endorsed by organizations across the political spectrum, including Heritage Action; Justice Fellowship of Prison Fellowship Ministries; ACLU; American Correctional Association; American Bar Association; NAACP; and Constitution Project. To learn more about the Smarter Sentencing Act, please click here. #### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |