July 20, 2018
"to elevate the condition of men--to lift artificial weights from all shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all, to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance, in the race of life." --Abraham Lincoln
Chairman's Note: A Story Everyone Needs to Share
It is one thing to understand a public policy issue abstractly. It is quite another to see up close how those same policies affect the lives of real Americans.
That is why it is so important for everyone to see the upcoming documentary, “The Sentence,” a movie about the human costs of mandatory minimum sentencing laws, which I had the honor of co-hosting this week with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).
The movie tells the story of Cindy Shank, a mother of three who was convicted on four drug charges in 2008.
Her troubles began in the late 1990s, when Cindy’s then-boyfriend began dealing drugs. In 2002, this same man was murdered outside the home they were sharing in East Lansing, Michigan. As police investigated the murder, they discovered that Cindy’s boyfriend ran a large drug conspiracy and that while living with Cindy assisted her boyfriend by counting money and receiving drug shipments at their home. After her boyfriend’s death, Cindy managed to turn her life around. She got married and started a family. She began raising three wonderful daughters.
Five years later, police came knocking on her door. Prosecutors sought to punish Cindy to the maximum extent allowable by federal law, asking the judge for 89 years in jail. The judge thought the prosecutor’s request was unfair and unjust, and wanted to give Cindy as little jail as possible. Unfortunately, due to mandatory minimum sentencing laws passed by Congress, 15 years was the shortest sentence the judge could give. His hands were tied.
Cindy’s youngest daughter was less than six-months old at the time. Her middle daughter was two. Her eldest was four. Their mother had done nothing wrong during their entire lifetimes and was remarkably reformed, but now they were all about to be punished for the rest of their lives.
“The Sentence” chronicles that punishment. It puts very real human faces on the damage done to families and communities by excessively punitive mandatory minimum sentences.
Our country needs strong drug laws. We need to punish offenders that prey on our community. But we also need smart drug laws that distinguish between major and minor offenders. We need fair drug laws that the public believes in and supports. Because without that support, without that belief in the system’s legitimacy, unfair mandatory minimum sentencing laws do more harm than good.
Fortunately this is a problem Congress can fix. Excessively punitive mandatory minimum sentencing laws were created by Congress and they can be undone by Congress. The Senate already has several pieces of legislation begin to address this the problem. Earlier this year, the Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly reported the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act to the floor, where it awaits a vote. Alternatively – and perhaps more realistically – we can add sentencing provisions to the First Step Act. Doing so would offer a serious opportunity to enact a criminal justice reform bill and enable us to get a bill to the President Trump’s desk this year.
But we need your help. Please share this trailer to The Sentence. Please go see this movie when it is released in October. And please tell your friends and family to do the same.
Issue in Focus: No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act (NOPEC)
Americans are all too familiar with sticker shock at the gas pump. How often have we pulled into the gas station only to be dismayed at the cost of filling the tank?
But gas prices don’t have to be as high as they are. In fact, oil prices have been subject to artificial and illegal pricing by OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, for decades.
OPEC, an intergovernmental organization of 15 nations, was founded in 1960 with the stated mission of “coordinating” members countries’ production of oil and “stabilizing” oil markets. Accounting for more than 60 percent of the world’s crude oil exports, OPEC essentially coordinates oil production to manipulate prices and supply, driving up fuel costs for millions of consumers across America and the world.
In other words, OPEC functions as a blatant international oil cartel.
For evidence, we need look no further than the 1970s oil embargo, when OPEC slashed oil production and pushed oil prices to record highs. Or more recently, OPEC decided to cut back production at the end of 2016 through 2017, reducing production by a total of nearly 1.8 million barrels per day, and again increasing prices.
The United States has long prohibited price-fixing and market-division conspiracies through our antitrust laws. Over a century ago, Congress passed the Sherman Act to combat the threat posed by anti-competitive cartels.
And due to globalization, many countries have worked on a multinational effort to police cartels, in some cases entering into formal cooperation agreements to combat international price-fixing.
In fact, since 1999 the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted many other international cartels involved in the production of rubber chemicals, electrodes, airlines, memory chips and vitamins.
But historically, U.S. courts have not been able to enforce antitrust laws against OPEC, finding that it is protected by sovereign immunity under federal statute and the “Act of State” doctrine.
That is why I have worked with Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to introduce the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, or NOPEC.
Our bill would explicitly authorize the Justice Department to bring lawsuits against oil cartel members for antitrust violations, clarifying that neither sovereign immunity nor the “Act of State” doctrine makes them exempt from the laws regarding illegal coordination and price fixing.
If private companies engaged in the international price-fixing activities that OPEC has, there is no question they would be found guilty of illegal behavior. There is no reason that this cartel should be treated differently based on their connection to national governments.
Our bill would therefore loosen OPEC’s unfair control over our economy, helping restore the principles of fair competition and the free market. And at the end of the day, this will help consumers in America – and across the world – have more affordable access to gas and lessen the expenses of the daily necessities to take care of their families.
