Watch a Columbia Professor Decimate Jasmine Crockett
There's Been a Massive Shakeup at the National Security Agency
Senate Republicans Appear to Have the Votes to Push Through Trump's Budget Reconciliation...
Pentagon Watchdog Launches 'Signalgate' Investigation Into Pete Hegseth
United Kingdom Weighs Striking Back Against US Tariffs, and It's Asking Businesses for...
An Ivy League Professor Flees to Canada and You Will Be Made to...
'Designed for Battle' Isn't a Valid Argument for Gun Control
Did '60 Minutes' Put Out Their Worst Segment With Lesley Stahl Providing Cover...
Kamala Harris Did More Than Just Endorse New WI Supreme Court Justice
Trump Weighs In on Proxy Voting Proposal, and It Looks Like There May...
Bernie Sanders Once More Tries, Fails Miserably to Get His Anti-Israel Resolutions Passed
Is AOC Really the Democratic Party's Leader? Here's What These Polls Say.
Senate Votes on Confirming Dr. Oz for Role in Trump Administration
We Will Hold Rogue Judges Accountable, Rep. Gill Says
Will the Liberal Media Cover This Horrific Crime Story?
Tipsheet

Doug Collins, Hakeem Jeffries Heap Praise on Each Other at Allegheny College's Civility Ceremony

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Washington, D.C. - Reps. Doug Collins (R-GA) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) could not be anymore politically different, but these two lawmakers decided to put ideology aside for the sake of criminal justice reform, and because of it, they are the most recent recipients of Allegheny College's Prize for Civility in Public Life. 

Advertisement

Last year Collins and Jeffries collaborated to work on the First Step Act, a prison reform bill which, in part, reduces federal sentences for nonviolent offenders and aims to help them smoothly reenter society.

For instance, the First Step Act modifies the "three strikes law," increases judicial discretion to reduce sentences for low-level nonviolent drug offenders and provides retroactive relief for thousands unjustly sentenced during the crack-cocaine era, as explained by Rep. Jeffries' congressional office.

"The FIRST STEP Act is not the end," Jeffries said at the time of its passage. "It’s not even the beginning of the end. It's simply the end of the beginning of a bipartisan journey to eradicate the mass incarceration epidemic in America.”

The legislation passed Congress in December, at which point President Trump gladly signed it into law. Matthew Charles, the first person to have benefitted from the bill, was Trump's guest at the 2019 State of the Union.

Allegheny, my alma mater, presented the civility prizes to Collins and Jeffries Friday morning at the National Press Club. Former Allegheny President Jim Mullen introduced the lawmakers by first acknowledging their shared passions: their Baptist faith, their love of music and, we know, their heart for criminal justice reform. Despite their ideological differences, they "refuse to demonize each other," Mullen marveled. 

Advertisement

Rep. Collins commended his friend Jeffries as "a compassionate man" he's proud to call his partner. He described how easy it was to "give in to the temptation to listen to another voice." 

Jeffries put it in another, more humorous way: "How can a conservative Republican from rural Georgia get along with a progressive Democratic from the people’s republic of Brooklyn?" 

"Doug is just a good man," Jeffries said, in a more serious tone.

In another, more unexpected moment of civility, new Allegheny President Hilary Link, the first female president in the school's history, presented two honorary civility prizes to President Mullen and Gov. Tom Ridge, who created the prize in 2012.

Former civility prizes were awarded to former Vice President Joe Biden, the late Sen. John McCain, Beto O'Rourke, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement