Two conservative GOP senators have clashed over a proposed overhaul of the criminal justice system that has the backing of President Donald Trump.
In a Monday tweet, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called out Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., accusing him of spreading “100% fake news” about the First Step Act, which would loosen some mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
The response came to a Cotton post Saturday that decried the lack of hearings on the legislation — and that claimed the measure “gives early release to 'low level, nonviolent' criminals convicted of assaulting police, even with deadly weapons.”
“I highly respect my colleague from Arkansas but everything in his tweet and this thread is “100% fake news,” Lee tweeted.
“The First Step Act does not 'give early release' to anyone. Anyone claiming it does, does not understand how the bill works,” Lee proclaimed.
Last week, Trump voiced his support of the bill, vowing he’d be “waiting with my pen” to sign it into law.
Cotton has been a constant critic of the bill, and penned an op-ed in USA Today last week, writing that "so-called 'criminal-justice reform' ... is just a misguided effort to let serious felons out of prison."
Lee tweeted if Cotton “has good faith problems with this bill then he should welcome a full and open debate on the Senate floor.”
The First Step Act passed the House in May with a 360-59 vote.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned Trump and other advocates the bill is unlikely to get a vote in the Senate this year because of a crowded schedule, The New York Times reported.
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