Tom Cotton Slams Democrats Over Bill Trump Signed Into Law, Gets Called Out Immediately by Dick Durbin

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) ripped Democrats on Wednesday for supporting the First Step Act, which passed the chamber in 2018 by a vote of 87-12 and was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump. The legislation is a wide-ranging criminal justice reform measure intended to reduce recidivism and incarceration.

Cotton is blocking the confirmations of eight U.S. attorneys because he says the Department of Justice should provide legal defenses for four U.S. marshals who are being sued over actions they took during civil unrest in Portland, Oregon in 2020. One person who filed a lawsuit is a man who was shot in the head with an “impact munition.”

As Cotton delivered his remarks on Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) seemed taken aback by the Arkansas senator’s framing of the issue.

“It’s your party that voted for in lockstep for the First Step Act that let thousands of violent felons back on the street who have now committed innumerable violent crimes,” said Cotton. “It’s your party who marched and chanted in the streets for defunding the police. It’s the democratic floor leader who blocked my resolution in the summer of 2020 to condemn the defund the police movement.”

As the chair was about to recognize Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), a nonplussed Durbin asked her to yield the floor, which she did.

“The First Step Act?” Durbin said in disbelief. “The Democrats did the First Step Act? The Republicans were in the majority. It was a bill sponsored by Senators Grassley, Durbin, Lee, and many others. And who signed it into law? Donald Trump signed it into law, the so-called Democratic measure.”

After Masto spoke, Cotton addressed Durbin’s comments.

“To respond to the senator from Illinois, yes, it’s true that President Trump signed the First Step Act,” Cotton said. “The First Step Act was the worst mistake of the Trump administration. Yes, it’s true that a number of Republican senators voted for it. They were wrong.”

Watch above via C-SPAN 2