McConnell Agrees to a Senate Vote on the First Step Act

We have been covering the historic criminal justice reform bill called the FIRST STEP Act for some time, and there is big news this week. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky changed course and said the Senate would vote on the bill before the end of the year.

Update (October 2026): This is a news post from December 2018. The vote happened. The Senate passed the First Step Act 87-12 on December 18, 2018 (Senate roll call votes), and it became law on December 21, 2018 (Pub. L. 115-391). For what the law does, see our section-by-section summary.

For years, McConnell blocked criminal justice reform in the Senate. From 2015 on, he held back a broader reform bill that had strong support from both parties.

After the House passed the narrower FIRST STEP Act earlier this year, McConnell kept it from a Senate vote too, until now.

Under heavy pressure from both parties and the White House, McConnell has agreed to a vote. If it passes, it will be a major bipartisan win. The bill is not perfect, but reform has to start somewhere.

Supporters pressed McConnell for weeks

McConnell controls the Senate calendar, and he was slow to schedule a vote. The pressure from supporters finally worked.

Most important, the President backed the bill. He thanked McConnell on Twitter in his usual style: "Thanks to Leader McConnell for agreeing to bring a Senate vote on Criminal Justice this week!" McConnell said the Senate would take up the bill "at the request of the president." Senator John Cornyn of Texas, McConnell's second-in-command, quickly announced his support.

The President's backing gives cover to conservative senators who worry about being called "soft on crime." Many senators in both parties were already on board, including the authors of the Senate compromise, Republican Chuck Grassley and Democrat Dick Durbin.

House Speaker Paul Ryan privately urged McConnell to take up the bill. Ryan has promised quick House action once the Senate passes it.

Support for the bill comes from a broad coalition, from the conservative Koch brothers to law enforcement groups to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The bill is likely to pass both chambers

Supporters worked to add provisions to the House bill that won over senators like Grassley and Durbin. They now think the compromise could get as many as 85 votes in the Senate.

Speaker Ryan expects the revised bill to pass the House quickly, before the holiday break.

The revised bill keeps most of the House bill's "back-end" reforms: prison changes that help people already locked up prepare for release and earn credits toward getting out sooner. It also adds some "front-end" reforms, meaning changes to sentencing laws that affect people before they go to prison.

If it passes, the bill should help thousands of people now in federal prison, and people sentenced in the future.

Criminal justice reform: a rare bipartisan issue

In a time of deep political division, it is good to see both parties agree on criminal justice reform. Many on both sides think the system costs too much, wastes money, and is often unfair.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the public supported tough crime laws and harsh mandatory minimum sentences. A mandatory minimum is the lowest sentence a judge is allowed to give. After decades of mass incarceration and unequal sentencing, the FIRST STEP Act shows how much attitudes have changed.

We hope this move toward more sensible crime policy continues.

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