President Donald Trump is reportedly holding back a plan to push prison and sentencing reform until after the midterm elections.
During a closed-door meeting at the White House, Trump said he has problems with the overhaul and wants to take another look at the politically charged issue after November's elections, The Hill reported.
"Trump said he opposes the idea of letting opioid traffickers get early release to home confinement or halfway houses, and he opposes reducing the mandatory minimum sentences for those offenses," an unnamed source told The Hill.
According to Axios, Senate leadership was already reluctant to bring it up for a vote.
The collapse is a win for opponents of the package, including law-and-order hardliners Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — and a loss for senior adviser Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, a proponent for the reform package, the news outlets reported.
The measure would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for certain nonviolent drug offenses in an effort to reduce the size of the federal prison population.
Koch network co-chairman and Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden said the news was a "major disappointment,” The Hill reported, noting criminal justice reform is one of the network's top agenda items, with officials having worked closely with Kushner.
“It’s sad that members of both parties would rather play politics than work together to advance meaningful criminal justice reforms that we know work,” Holden told The Hill.
“Though it may take a little longer than we had hoped, we remain committed to working with anyone who believes in passing smart-on-crime reforms that protect our communities, save money, and help people who want a second chance,” he said.
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