legislation allowed defendants previously convicted or sentenced for a federal offense involving crack cocaine to sentence -- petition for sentence reduction. in 1996 congress passed the anti-drug abuse act which created mandatory penalties for drug offenses and introduced a 100-1 sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses. this meant a person who distributed five grams of crack cocaine receive the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence as a person who distributes 500 grams of powder cocaine. a person who distributed 50 grams of crack cocaine received a -- received the same 10-year mandatory sentence as a person who distributed 5,000 grams of powder cocaine. it soon became evident that this sentencing disparity created a significant racial disparity. four years after congress passed the anti-drug abuse act, the average federal sentence for black defendants was 49% higher than the average sentence for white defendants. in the ensuing decades, the sentencing commission and many members of the law enforcement community strongly and repeatedly criticized the 100-1 ratio and urged congress to address the disparity. as early as 1995, the sentencing commission began urging congress to rectify this unfairness. besides the troubling racial disparities in sentencing, the commission also expressed concern over the significant differences in punishment between street level dealers of crack cocaine and the powder cocaine suppliers who sold the cocaine in the first instance. unfortunately, congress failed to act on the commission's proposed amendment to the sentencing guidelines to equalize the penalties for crack and powder cocaine. from 1997 to 2007, the commission continued to warn congress about the unjustified ratio, noting that there is, quote, no legislative history that explains congress' rationale for selecting the 100-1 drug quantity ratio for powder cocaine and crack offenses, end quote. it provided evidence to its finds that the penalties exaggerated the relative harmfulness of crack cocaine swept too broadly, most often applied to lower level offenders and mostly impacted communities of color. congress, however, took know action. it prompted the commission to pass an amendment to the sentencing guidelines in 2007 as a partial and modest remedy to the compelling problems associated with the ratio. in doing so, the commission unanimously and strongly urged congress to take on this recommendation and provide a comprehensive solution. in 2010, congress finally acted by passing the fair sentencing act which did not eliminate the disparity but significantly reduced the ratio from 100-1 to 18-1. but the fair sentencing act applied only to pending and future cases, leaving thousand of incarcerated people without a petition for relief. the first step act of 2018 made the fair sentencing act retroactive providing a pathway for relief for some but not all individuals affected by the sentencing disparity. it is now pastime to finish the job. the crack cocaine and powder cocaine disparity has greatly contributed to the rise of mass incarceration, devastated communities of color and severely undermine public don't instance in our justice system. the equal act would finally equalize the treatment of powder cocaine and crack cocaine, two forms of the same drug by eliminating the sentencing disparity and provide a path to retroactive relief to disparity not rooted in science, does not promote public safety and fosters racial disparitys. i comment our representatives jeffries, bobby scott, kelly armstrong and don bacon for introducing this important bipartisanship legislation, and i urge all members to support it. i reserve thebalance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. gohmert: thank you. in the 1980's, as chairman nadler has said, congress enacted harsh penalties for federal drug offenses including mandatory minimum sentences. in that 1986 act, the anti-drug abuse act, it did create 100-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine, meaning an individual convicted of selling five grams of crack cocaine would receive the same sentence as someone convicted of selling 500 grams of powdered cocaine. earlier, years ago, representative dan lungren who had been here in 1986 when this was passed said that republicans were told in 1986 with the democratic majority by lefttive charlie rangel, if they did not support the huge disparity, then they did not care about black neighborhoods and the scourge that crack cocaine was creating and ruining in black neighborhoods. so it easily passed because in 1986, no one wanted to be called a racist. this law contributed to the growth of the u.s. prison population through the 1990's through 2000's. in 2010, congress passed the fair sentienting act which reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100-1 to 18-1. and as i recall, at that time, i thought it would be good to go 1-1 and that's what we did in texas when i was a judge. but if i recall correctly, there were some republicans that said we can't go all the way to 1-1 but we'll grade 18-1. if that's not right, the chair can correct. but that's what i recall because i didn't see why we didn't go ahead and go 1-1 back then, just fix it but that's what happened, it went from 100-1 to 18-1 disparity but in 2018, congress passed, president trump signed the first step act which made the fair sentencing act retroactive. this allowed those sentenced for federal drug offenses related to cocaine prior to the passage of the fair sentencing act to move for resentencing under the new law. but the equal act before us today truly lives up to the name of equalizing sentences for similar crimes. and would eliminate the federal sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and allow those convicted under the prior law to move for resentencing under this new standard. at the state level, more than 40 states do not treat crack and powder cocaine differently in their sentencing structures. the passage of the equal act now would align federal sentencing laws with the vast majority of states. and i would like to also say in a prior hearing, mr. jeffries indicated that he intended to go forward and would try to push a bill as the chair also had hoped, that would finally eliminate the sentencing disparity and go 1-1. in that hearing, i made the comment that if mr. jeffries would draft a bill that did just that, then i would support that, and i am very pleased that mr. jeffries was a man of his word. he did exactly what he said. he prepared a bill that fixed this problem. and i am pleased to agree and to be part of what mr. jeffries prepared as with the chairman has seen through our committee and glad we are finally going to deal with this problem and do right by the people that are sentenced under it. and with that i'll reserve the rest of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i yield five minutes to the gentleman from new york, the sponsor of this bill, mr. jeffries. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. jeffries: thank you very much. i thank the distinguished chair of the house judiciary key for yielding and for his extraordinary leadership in moving this important piece of legislation forward. i also thank kelly armstrong, who is the lead republican, who has sponsored this legislation for his advocacy and his efforts to advance this critical piece of legislation. and i thank distinguished the gentleman from texas, congressman gohmert, who indicated that we had a previous conversation with then congressman richmond at a judiciary key hearing about his willingness to be supportive of moving forward with a bill to deal with the sentencing disparity that relates to crack and powder cocaine. i rise in support of the equal act, legislation that will eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine septembering disparity which has devastated lives and families throughout the country. as has been indicated in 1986, shortly after the tragic death of basketball star lynn bias, the anti-distribution act interviewed a 100 to 1. 5 hundred grams of powder and five grams of crack triggered the same five year man tka story prison sentence, there is no policy for punishing crack cocaine offensees more harshly than the same offense involving powder cocaine and there is no pharmacology call difference between how the body processes crack cocaine and how it processes powder cocaine, notwithstanding the thinking at the time. what is the difference is the law's impact on communities of color. the burden has disproportionately fallen on african american-american communities. 77.1% of the crack cocaine offenders convicted were plaque. while most powder cocaine traffickers are nonblack. overall impact is a system of mass incarceration costs at least $1880 billion per year, money that could otherwise be invested in the well-being in inner city america, rural america, small town america, appalachia as well. policy and the failed war on drugs has not resulted in improved public safety which is why the equal act is supported by law enforcement groups like the pha skwror cities' chiefs association, the association of prosecuting attorneys and the national district attorneys association. recognizing the sentencing disparity is a failure, congress has acted several times to incrementally address this disparity. in 2010 with passage of the fair sentencing act, the disparity was reduced to 18-1 and legislation signed into law by then president president obama and 2018, the first step act signed into law by president trump. that 18-1 sentencing disparity was made retroactive. and now congress has the opportunity to finish the job. and today, the house of representatives is poised in a bipartisan way to get that done. 50 years ago, the failed war on drugs was first launched when the president at the time declared drug abuse public enemy number one. at the time, there were less than 300,000 people incarcerated in america, today 2.3 million, disproportionately black and latino, many of them nonviolent drug offenders, who instead of receiving incarceration should have received drug treatment. through the failed policy, we can't repeat that policy today as so many folks are dealing with the scurge of opioid addiction and i'm thankful we are coming together to pass the equal act to end the disparity and to address this issue. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. gohmert: i yield myself such time as i may consume and i appreciate mr. jeffries mentioning seed tkreubg richmond and kelly armstrong who have been important parts of bringing this bill to this place. and congressman richmond has passed on to his just reward, that means going to the white house to work, but mr. armstrong is still here laboring here in the field and asked that i was to be here and asked i read this statement from him into the record. he said i wish i could be here today, but i am grateful for representative gohmert to read my remarks. this will provide sentencing parity for federal powder and crack cocaine offensees and will provide relief to those who have been sentenced. in 1986 the anti-drug abuse act created 100-1 disparity. the law created a five-year prison sentence of distribution of five grams crack cocaine at the same time that the individual would need to possess 100 times ta amount to receive the same sentence. the fair sentencing act reduced the disparity from 100-1 to 18-1. and the equal act not only provides sentencing parity for crack and powder cocaine offensees and solves the retroactivity and implementation issues. this is not being soft on crime but being smart on crime. many americans struggling with addiction are no stranger to federal prison system. we know addressing substance abuse disorder and mental health challenge is the most effective way to help these individuals as well as improve our communities. the answer is not to lock people up for crimes of addiction. it does not work and increasingly partisan time, equal act is an example of how commonsense legislation can receive bipartisan support from across the political spec frum. you don't have to look further from the prime sponsors of this bill. i'm a conservative republican from north dakota. congressman jeffries is a democrat from new york city and we disagree on a lot of issues but we have come together to support this bill because it is the right thing to do and this bill has broad support from across the ideological spectrum. the judiciary key reported this favorably 36-5 and supported by groups like aclu and americans for prosperity. thank you to everyone who brought us to this point. i urge people to support the equal act. and that ends the statement by mr. kelly armstrong. and i appreciate the comments by mr. jeffries regarding treatment. what i saw during my decade on the bench was whether it was crack cocaine or powder cocaine, it was incredibly adicktive and every now and then someone might be able to deal with their addition in a 30-day pr-pl a but normally it took longer than 30 days. texas had up to 12 months he' felony abuse. and a strong conservative like myself used that as much as i did but i saw this is so addictive, it needs a length of time to help people change their lives for such a time that they got a better chance of making it out understanding how addictive those substances are all coming from cocaine. and i know the second chance act act dealt with some of those issues but there might be something else we can do in the future where if you are convicted of an offense and you are an addict, a long-term substance abuse facility you deal with people with your same problem and it's a locked-down facility and you don't have a choice of going anywhere and as i have sat and watched some of the environs counters in the meetings like aa and you have there in those facilities, they have a b.s. detector and don't let anyone get away with anything. and it had a better success rate than any other program that i had seen. so this is a great start for getting the right thing done and i appreciate mr. jeffries and mr. richmond. it was his desire and chairman nadler for making this happen. and i reserve the rest of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tech as reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cities -- cicilline. mr. cicilline: i rise in strong support of the equal act which eliminates the disparity between cabbing and powder cocaine and i thank the chairman bringing this bill before our key and its quick passage and chairman jeffries and mr. armstrong and chairman scott. 35 years ago, congress passed the anti-drug abuse act which created this sentencing disparity between two types of cocaine, same substance but in a different form. under this you needed 100 times powder cocaine on to crack cocaine to get the same sentence. there was no imperical evidence there was a difference. and more than three decades defendants have suffered under this disparity with tkeus proportionate im impact on communities of color and led to mass a incarceration and the destruction of so many lives. in 2010, congress changed the sentencing tkpeus party and while there was some progress and in 2018 we improved that under the leadership of mr. jeffries by making it retroactive, while it was a step in the right direction making it smaller didn't make the sentencing fair. i served as a public defender and criminal defense lawyer for many years and i have seen how our criminal justice system fails to deliver justice and this disparity is one of those examples. this vital legislation will resolve the disparity between crack and powder cocaine and correct this inscrews ties. our prisons are overcrowded and lives are harmed every day especially in communities of color because of unjust sentencing laws resulting in mass incarceration and other harms. the equal act is one important step of so many that we have to take to end this cycle and i want to thank mr. jeffries for his extraordinary leadership on this bill. i thank chairman nadler preug this bill to the floor and delighted it is bipartisan. if mr. gohmert is right, texas did this years ago i will say words that i never expected to say, we need to follow the lead of texas. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. gohmert: continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: i yield three minutes to the distinguished gentlelady from texas, ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the distinguished gentlelady from texas. jackson lee skraoel i thank you and i thank the distinguished chairman of the judiciary key for yielding and with the distinguished the gentleman from rhode island, judge gohmert we know that texas knows how to lead. thank you for bringing that to our attention. ., . thank you, chairman jeffries, for leading us on and providing the energy and the engine for doing something that is both and will be lifesaving. it is and will continue to be lifesaving. it is my life's work to use the criminal justice system as a reform mechanism to save lives and to ensure that it is not a system that unequally prides itself in supporting the rights, sometimes, of the offender without acknowledging the rights of the victim. in many instances, in addiction, you will find persons who will go awry of the criminal justice system as victims because they, then, are not given the treatment that they should get, or they are not given the recognition of the question of how you can fairly address these laws, they are in fact becoming victims. they become incarcerated. they lose their rights to vote. their families are separated from them. they are stigmatized. they may lose their dream, their life's dream of being a teacher or a police officer or a lawyer. we don't know what lives we lost in the so-called war on drugs. how many fell by the wayside? and so i am proud to support h.r. 1693, the equal act of 2021 which will eliminate the disparity of crack cocaine and powder cocaine and help those who received unfair and harsh sentencing. this is another byproduct of our country's failed war on drugs. i have long championed for the equalize of crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses. the evidence of the statement of support and comments of our co-manager, mr. gohmert of texas, and as well, the letter from mr. armstrong showed the bipartisan recognition of where we are today. i want to thank the members of the crime subcommittee, crime, terrorism, homeland security committee, who have a collective vision, along with other members of the judiciary committee, what are we doing there? yes, we are there to uphold laws, to promote the legal process under this system called criminal justice, but we are surely there to ensure that criminal justice works. beginning in 2007 -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expireds -- expired. ms. jackson lee: we have learned that most of the assumptions on which the 100-1 ratio was based turned out to be unfounded. those unfounded assumptions damaged communities of color for generations and a higher percentage of black americans are convicted of crack cocaine versus powder cocaine and receive longer sentences, the individuals serving unreasonably long because that disparity exists. i was happy to introduce an amendment to allow the courts to grant sentence reduction absent the presence as required today. this will eliminate the court's logjam. and some of these individuals are in fact incarcerated still. individuals like william underwood, cynthia shank, all testified before the house and senate judiciary committees of the devastating impact of mandatory minimum laws have had on them, their families and countless others. i can assure you this legislation is long overdue. i'm excited that the introduction of my legislation now today will become reality and i'm excited to be a part in working with chairman jeffries on this important legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: race has been a factor, and we are glad we are moving beyond that. we must pass the equal act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. gohmert: continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i now recognize one minute to the gentlelady from michigan, ms. tlaib. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from michigan is recognized for one minute. ms. tlaib: colleagues, as someone who grew up in a community on the front line of the racist so-called, quote, war on drugs, i am proud to stand here today in support of the equal act, to eliminate racial disparities in crack and powder cocaine possession. the war on drugs, which was designed as a racist project to target black and brown americans, my neighbors, and the obvious racial disparities and enforcement -- in enforcement show us it's still at its core a racist of targeting communities of color through overpolicing, criminalization, and mass incarceration. simply put, addiction is a health condition, not a crime. giving incarcerated people an opportunity to be resentenced will transform lives immediately. we need to be doing more to make reparations to those impacted by the so-called war on drugs. and while this bill is a great step on the road -- great step on the road to comprehensive drug and criminal justice reform, we must go further. our goal must be to end this country's militarized, quote, jail first, ask questions later approach to addiction, and stop trying to solve social problems with more policing. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mr. nadler: i'll yield the gentlelady another minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. tlaib: i look forward to supporting future legislation aimed at comprehensive decriminalization of possession for personal use of b substances and strongly encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense bill. lastly, it is a personal honor to support and uplift kendia milton who approached me about this bill who is with dream corps justice in detroit. thank you for your work and allowing me to also fight for all of us today. thank you and i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields. the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. gohmert: continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers, and i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. appreciate the chairman's efforts in regards to this bill. and at this time, i would urge my colleagues to support the bill and would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas -- the gentleman yields back. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, the equal act of 2021 represents an important step in our efforts to reform the criminal justice system. i thank representatives jeffries, scott, armstrong, and bacon for their leadership in introducing this important legislation and for assembling a broad and bipartisan coalition of stakeholders in support of the bill. including the department of justice, advocacy groups that span the entire ideological spectrum. i strongly urge my colleagues to giving you a front row seat to democracy. c-span 3 takes you live to capitol hill for a hearing on the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan and lessons learned on the 20-year conflict. members of the senate armed services committee are getting ready to hear testimony from the defense secretary, lloyd austin, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general mark milley and general mackenzie, head of u.s. central command. you're watching coverage live on c-span 3.

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