Scott Statement on White House Criminal Justice Reform Announcement

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) released the statement below following today’s announcement by the President that the White House stands behind a bipartisan criminal justice reform package that includes the First Step Act, introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), marking the first truly meaningful action on criminal justice reform in decades. Scott joined other Senate and House negotiators at the White House for the announcement.

“As the only Senate Republican co-sponsor of the First Step Act, I am thrilled to see the President throw his support behind meaningful criminal justice reform. The First Step Act takes concrete measures to reduce recidivism, improve the reentry process for prisoners as they transition back into society, lower costs, and a variety of other steps that will both keep our streets safer and help ensure former inmates have a path to success after serving their debt to society.

I want to thank Chairman Grassley, Senators Lee, Cornyn and Graham, as well as our partners in the House for all their efforts to find a path forward. I will also continue to advocate to the President that he nominate a new Attorney General that is passionate about criminal justice reform and further steps that can be taken in this area.”

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