Project for Opportunity and Safety

Washington Examiner: Alaska senator backs criminal justice reform package

Sen. Dan Sullivan has agreed to back a revised criminal justice reform package, an aide to the Alaska senator told the Washington Examiner.

That’s a victory for the Republican trio who negotiated an agreement with Democrats only to encounter stiff resistance within their own conference. As a former attorney general, Sullivan might be an effective advocate when it comes to assuring law-and-order Republicans that the sentencing reforms won’t diminish public safety.

Even so, proponents of the bill decided to delay the official release of the revised legislation so that they can continue lobbying their GOP colleagues. “No major difficulties,” another GOP Senate aide said. “Just trying to get more co-sponsors and trying to find the right time to have a good rollout with a lot of people there.”

Sullivan joins Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., in agreeing to support the updated proposal. That brings the total number of Republican supporters of the bill to 16, counting the 13 lawmakers who sponsored the draft that passed through the Judiciary Committee in October.

But the lead Republican architects of the bill — Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Mike Lee — need to recruit more Republican support, because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is unlikely to schedule a vote on the legislation if it creates deep divisions in the Republican conference while uniting Democrats.

“There’s an in-house battle within the Republican Party about the bill, and once they get that sorted out, our side has been ready to go from the beginning,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., one of the lead Democrats on the bill, told the Examiner this week.

Originally Posted on Washington Examiner