Count the Crimes to Cut Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Roy for working with me. This is a true representation of good government and what it looks like for bipartisanship, and I hope we are able to do more of this going forward.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today for the sake of an effective criminal justice system. The laws within our criminal code, as has been expressed before, have become outdated and a highway to overcriminalization. We have so many unlawful acts within our criminal code that we don't even know how many criminal laws there are.

That is why we need to pass the Count the Crimes to Cut Act of 2025, which would mandate the creation of a comprehensive inventory, as we have expressed, of all Federal criminal, statutory, and regulatory offenses.

I am really proud to co-lead this commonsense and, as I said before, bipartisan solution that will help us address the pressing issue of overcriminalization, a troubling result of unchecked growth of our Federal criminal law.

For too long, new Federal crimes have been created without a full understanding of what criminal laws already exist. Six years ago, policy organizations estimated that we have over 5,000 Federal crimes, many of which, as we have stated before, are redundant, overly broad, or better left to the States, or are so obscure that the public has no practical way of knowing that they even exist. In some cases, these laws are so vague that even a reasonable person would struggle to understand what conduct is prohibited.

This massive and unorganized body of Federal criminal law puts well- intentioned, law-abiding citizens definitely at risk. Legal scholars suggest that everyday Americans may unknowingly violate multiple Federal crimes without ever being made aware of it. Yet, we cannot meaningfully address the consequences of this bloated system until we fully understand the scope of the problem.

Over the last few decades, the number of Federal criminal offenses has dramatically increased to more than 5,000, and that figure doesn't even account for the countless additional crimes created by Federal regulations. Despite several previous attempts to determine the number of criminal offenses that are currently on the books, the fact is, we still don't know.

The Count the Crimes to Cut Act, which I am very proud to cosponsor, is a necessary first step toward comprehensive, data-driven reform that truly works.

By finally establishing a complete inventory of these offenses, we can effectively evaluate how they are enforced, understand the intent requirements associated with each one of these laws, and determine where reforms to mens rea standards are necessary. We will also be able to identify redundant or outdated laws that serve no public safety purpose at all.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot have effective reform of Federal criminal laws without first passing and implementing the Count the Crimes to Cut Act. This bill is not about simply making lists. It is about creating the tools that we need for precise data-driven reform.

With concrete data, we can determine exactly which reforms are needed, remove speculation from the process, and avoid unintentional, unnecessary mistakes that could arise from a sweeping one-size-fits-all approach.

Might I say, in the era that we are in right now, there seems to be a lot of mistrust within our communities with law enforcement. We need to be building those relationships, building community, and I think this piece of legislation helps to really expedite that kind of community- driven policing and helps to make sure that people feel safe and secure in their communities.

I thank Congressman Roy for his leadership on this legislation, which will help eliminate duplicative laws and allow us to better serve and focus on the true threats to public safety, which are always a top priority of mine.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this long overdue piece of legislation. It is a bipartisan measure that really puts common sense and accountability first. I thank my colleagues for their support on this piece of legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

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