Republicans and Democrats Begin to Sharply Diverge on Crime

Several advocates pointed to a recent breakthrough on the EQUAL Act, a long-awaited federal bill to reduce the disparity in sentencing between powder and crack cocaine offenders. This week, the bill reached the key threshold of 10 Republican co-sponsors in the Senate, breaking a potential filibuster.

To Jillian Snider, a retired New York City police officer and policy director at R Street, a right-leaning think tank, it was a sign that the antics on the Senate Judiciary Committee were hardly representative of Republicans as a whole.

“I don’t want people to think that what happened on TV this week is where we are,” she said.