The Senate's Latest (Unnecessary) Scandal: A Criminal-Justice Commission - Andrew Cohen - Politics - The Atlantic

The Senate's Latest (Unnecessary) Scandal: A Criminal-Justice Commission - Andrew Cohen - Politics - The Atlantic

"Another month, another dismaying example of a smart measure stymied in Congress by Republican intransigence. This time, 43 GOP members of the Senate blocked passage of legislation that would have created a new National Criminal Justice Commission, a bipartisan group designed to help figure out how to bring some order to the chaos that currently exists in the nation's criminal justice systems. The cops supported the bill.

The American Civil Liberties Union supported it. But Senate Republicans wouldn't even allow a merits vote on it. On October 19th, they filibustered.

Predictably, the primary sponsor of the measure, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), was furious. One of the more conservative members of the Democratic caucus, and someone with legitimate street cred when it comes to law and order, Webb took to the Senate floor Tuesday and delivered these biting remarks:

Mr. President, eleven days ago all but four of the Republicans in this body filibustered a common-sense piece of legislation that would have created a national commission designed to bring together some of the best minds in America to examine our broken and frequently dysfunctional criminal justice system, and to make recommendations as to how we can make it more effective, more fair, and more cost-efficient.

This legislation was the product of more than four years of effort. It was paid for. It would have gone out of business after 18 months. It was balanced philosophically. It guaranteed equal representation among Democrats and Republicans in its membership. I must say that at first I was stunned at the filibuster at the hands of 43 Republicans. But on the other hand, Mr. President, it is impossible not to notice, over the past two years, the lamentable decline in bipartisan behavior in this body, even in addressing serious issues of actual governance. I say this with a great deal of regret, both personally and politically.""