Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 5963

Floor Speech

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I thank Chairman Grassley.

The chairman and I have been working on this bill since 2014. What weheard from juvenile justice practitioners around the country is that a lot of the policies which had been in place for dealing with juvenile offenders were stale and ineffective and that there were better ways to do business than were currently being supported by this grant. So we have worked for years to get this program, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, reauthorized.

I see Senator Cotton on the floor, and he can speak for himself, but I think the crux of today's concerns are that the JJDPA would phase out over time--over 3 years, in fact--the ability for States to take its money. You don't have to take the money, but if you take the money, you have to phase out locking up young people--kids--for status offenses, for offenses for which an adult could not be locked up. It is simply not good practice. That is one of the reasons the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges has supported this bill--they know it is bad practice. Indeed, the members of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges from the State of Arkansas support this measure.

The bill the chairman referred to that passed the House by such an astonishingly strong vote was voted for by every Member of the Arkansas delegation in the House of Representatives, and the senior Senator from the State of Arkansas supports this bill. We hope the junior Senator from Arkansas would be willing to take the legendary advice of Ben Franklin that perhaps we should doubt, each of us, a little bit of our own infallibility and give us a chance to let this bill go forward.

If Arkansas doesn't like this, there is a provision that the House put in that allows any State to declare itself outside of the provision under a self-declared hardship provision. That is an indefinite. That is not a 3-year phase-in; that is indefinite. So if the Arkansas courts really want to lock up juveniles for status offenses that no adult could be locked up for, all they have to do is declare under that provision. They may or may not want to do that. The fact that every other member of Arkansas' delegation in Congress appears to support this and that the family court members from the council appear to support it suggests that may not be the case.
In any event, we would like the ability to go forward. We are prepared to move this bill right now. I would be delighted to join the chairman of the Judiciary Committee in his motion for unanimous consent that the bill be adopted.

I would add for the record that these law enforcement leaders in Arkansas have expressed their support for the bill: Chief Alcon of the Mayflower Police Department; Chief Benton of the Ward Police Department; Chief Coffman of the Judsonia Police Department; Chief Harvey of the Lowell Police Department; Chief Kizer of the Bryant Police Department; Chief Lane of the Benton Police Department; Chief Reid of the Glenwood Police Department; Chief Sims of the Dardanelle Police Department; and Sheriff Sims of the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

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