reporter: it is an executive clemency offer. the justice department is offerg the rules and guidelines in which nonviolent criminals can have the remaining sentences reduced and even eliminated based on the nature of their crime and particular circumstances. you see him on the side of the screen. president obama poised to exercise his authority to grant the executive clemency on a wide scale. hundreds, perhaps thousands of inmates could be released by the end of the presidency. it s controversial and congress has been delaying sentencing reform for quite some time. there s clearly a problem, 216,000 people in the prison system in 2010, half of them were drug offenders. bill: congressional, congress wise, how are they reacting? reporter: it had a lot of support from republicans including rand paul and ted cruz and mike lee. the smart sentencing act pass