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Over incarceration is a very real threat facing our nation; it breaks down bonds with family and community and often times the prisoners are released with few skills and lacking the ability to truly reenter society, resulting in a higher likelihood to reoffend. This isn’t to say that those who commit crimes should be given a slap on the wrist and sent on their way. We are, after all, a country of law and order. However, that same law and order requires we dole out justice fairly. When doled out unfairly, it causes a breakdown in trust of our law enforcement officials. This, too, leads to higher rates of recidivism and makes our country less safe.

Eight months ago, the Senate voted to table a resolution that would have forced the president to either: a) end United States cooperation with Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen; or b) submit a formal declaration of war to Congress. That resolution was tabled by a vote of 55-44. This Wednesday that same resolution survived a vote to be added to the Senate calendar, 63 to 37. A final vote on the resolution is set for next week. The chance to end the war in Yemen is in sight.

Mr. President, I stood before this body in March of this year to protest our country’s unconstitutional intervention in Saudi Arabia’s bloody war in Yemen. I was proud to stand with my colleagues Senator Sanders and Senator Murphy to file a discharge motion of our resolution, S.J. Res 54, that would remove U.S. armed forces from Yemen. At that time, members of the Foreign Relations Committee requested additional time to study the issue and debate the resolution in committee. The chairman of the committee, my colleague Senator Corker, requested this with the commitment to “bring forth legislation to actually appropriately deal with many of the issues relative to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and ourselves.” So the Senate voted to table the motion.

As a former federal prosecutor, I am clear-eyed about crime. Unlike some reformers, I don’t think our justice system is fundamentally broken, unjust, or corrupt. I have nothing but respect for law-enforcement officials, who put themselves in danger every single day in order to protect the public. I know from experience that dangerous criminals exist — individuals who are incapable of or uninterested in rehabilitation and change. We should throw the book at those people.