U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) slammed President Biden’s U.S. Sentencing Commission nominee Laura Mate for refusing to explain her opposition to mandatory minimums for child porn offenders in all cases, following a 2013 letter she signed in which she argued that the child pornography guidelines were too severe and called for mandatory minimums for offenders to be abolished.
“You don’t want to answer my questions, because the positions that you took were radical, and frankly, I think, wrong,” said Senator Hawley. “I can’t possibly support your nomination. I can’t support the nomination of someone who wants to do away with mandatory minimums. I think it’s a radical position, and I think, frankly, your nomination is indicative of where this administration is on its soft-on-crime policies.”
Chairman Dick Durbin then mentioned the need for Congress to address sentencing reform, to which Senator Hawley stated on-record that Chairman Durbin is single-handedly blocking his legislation, introduced earlier this year, which would protect children and increase penalties for child porn offenders.