The First Step Act Is Very Aptly Named. But What the Hell, Let's Celebrate.
There are some muted hosannas due for the passage of the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform package that has managed to make it all the way to the president*'s desk for signature. (At this point, he'd probably sign anything you put in front of him. If it's a check, though, don't cash it with anyone you know.) Yes, this is a worthy effort, and yes, it's nice that Mitch McConnell allowed something to come out of the Senate that didn't cut a billionaire's taxes, or put a lineal descendant of Nathan Bedford Forrest on the federal bench. From NBC News:
Supporters of the bill claim that changes passed in the Senate would make America's criminal justice system fairer, reduce overcrowding and save taxpayer dollars - much to the benefit of drug and non-violent offenders...Trump quickly jumped on Twitter to hail the bill’s passage, and said "America is the greatest Country in the world and my job is to fight for ALL citizens, even those who have made mistakes."
"This will keep our communities safer, and provide hope and a second chance, to those who earn it. In addition to everything else, billions of dollars will be saved. I look forward to signing this into law!” the president tweeted.
(An added entry on the positive side of the agenda is that passage of the law represented an elbow in the direction of Senator Tom Cotton, the bobble-throated slapdick from Arkansas, who decided to play lawn-order hardbar on the issue, calling the law a "jailbreak.")
Everybody is so happy that I hesitate to point out that this law is extraordinarily aptly named. It doesn't touch state prison systems at all. Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, tried to get a common-sense amendment added that would withhold federal money from states that failed to keep proper data on police shootings. It failed. (Scott hailed the measure's passage anyway.) It softens some of the penalties for white-collar crime. (The Koch brothers supported this bill, which should tell you something.) The questions that remain open are a) what are the next 15, 50, 100 steps?, and b) is the government-and by extension, the country-willing to take them?
Senator Kamala Harris of California, a former prosecutor who likely will make sweeping criminal justice reform a centerpiece if she does run for president in 2020, got on the electric Twitter machine to make precisely this point. There is a very real danger that this may be The Only Step for which there will be the kind of bipartisan support we saw here. Liberal supporters have been very careful to remind the country that the First Step Act is just that, and that much more legislation will be required to fix what ails the criminal-justice system in this country. And the Tom Cotton wing of conservative politics is still remarkably potent within the Republican Party.
But, what the hell, first steps are first steps, and the fact that this one actually was a first step forward qualifies as at least a minor Christmas miracle.
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