The Trump administration and some Republican senators are making a last-ditch attempt to pass a sentencing and prison reform bill in the lame duck session, reports Politico. At a lunch Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence strongly endorsed the bill to Senate Republicans, emphasizing that the GOP could take a clear win in the lame duck. Supporters said they picked up votes during the discussion; one senator said there are enough yes votes to pass the bill easily, if leadership will bring it up. Asked to assess the prospect that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will put the sentencing and prison reform bill on the floor, one attendee said: “Less than 50/50.”
White House aide and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner attended the lunch, though he said nothing. “A lot of people like me are still trying to understand what it does,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who characterized Tuesday’s meeting as a “higher level discussion of whether we should attempt to do it.” GOP leaders are asking senators whether they’d prefer to deal with the bill next year after Democrats take over the House. That would dismantle a fragile bipartisan agreement and require the process to start over. Supporters estimated only a half-dozen Republicans will be difficult to convince: Tom Cotton (AR), John Kennedy (LA), Ben Sasse (NE), Jim Risch (R-ID) and Deb Fischer (R-NE). Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is skeptical of the bill, particularly when it comes to classification of crimes, and said he is “not sure there is anything” that could win him over.