Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) has been able to defeat several major bills, but he may have met his match in the pending sentencing-prisons bill that has been endorsed by Trump and a large bloc of the Senate GOP caucus, reports Politico. Cotton is trying to use the same hard-edged tactics he used in the past to beat back the bill, arguing that Republican supporters will be held accountable if someone let out of prison under the bill’s terms commits a serious crime. “We shouldn’t release serious and repeat-violence felons, which is what the bill will do. It will be bad for anyone who votes for it,” Cotton said, adding that political strategists “think this bill will be as toxic as immigration. Or more so. You’re not going to be insulated from it” just because the president backs it. Cotton says won’t allow quick passage unless he gets votes on amendments that could rupture the bill’s fragile coalition.
Asked whether Cotton has any hope of derailing the bill, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) replied: “Uh, no.” He adds, “I like Sen. Cotton but that argument? Taking it to its logical conclusion, you never let anybody out for anything.” The latest version of the legislation makes more categories of offenders ineligible to earn “good time” credits for early release, though Cotton argues there are still too many gaps in the bill that allow serious criminals to win early release. The bill’s supporters say it won’t just automatically allow the release of people just because they are eligible. Cotton says he’s seen enough to know he hates it, blasting out news releases identifying 35 types of violent criminals he says are still eligible for release.