OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:07 AM PT — Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018
Senator Rand Paul is putting pressure on his colleagues to bring a criminal justice reform bill to a floor vote.
While speaking at the Louisville Urban League on Monday, Senator Paul voiced his support for the ‘First Step Act.’Sen. Rand Paul speaks with people at the Louisville Urban League on Monday, Dec. 10, 2018, after making another push for a federal criminal justice bill, in Louisville, Ky. Paul urged Kentuckians to contact Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to urge a Senate vote on the measure. (AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner)
In particular, he’s calling on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring the legislation for a floor vote. Paul is urging residents of Kentucky to reach out to their other senator to stress the importance of criminal justice reform.
While addressing the audience, Paul said his own life experiences are what have shaped his approach to the bill.
“From my perspective, the way I look at this is that I was once a kid and I was once an imperfect kid, and made mistakes,” he explained. “Three of the last four president’s admitted they made mistakes with either drugs or alcohol — there should be a second chance, you should not permanently be excluded from voting, you should not permanently be excluded from employment.”
McConnell has said he will only bring the legislation to the Senate floor if it is backed by 60 votes or more.
Meanwhile, Paul said he believes the measure would pass overwhelmingly.
