While working on a bill which would have created a blue ribbon, bi-partisan committee to examine America’s criminal justice system, and which also would have make recommendations on ways to correct its flaws, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) listened to both Democrats and Republicans and crafted his bill with suggestions from both sides. The finished bill had the support of diverse organizations such as the National Sheriffs’ Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Sentencing Project, the NAACP, the ACLU and Prison Fellowship. There were high hopes that when the bill passed the $14 million dollar, 18-month study by the committee would bring about positive changes to a system that is hemorrhaging billions of tax payer dollars with minimal positive results.
These hopes were dashed when on October 20, 2011, the bill was shot down by a vote of 57 - 43 as a Republican filibuster kept the bill from obtaining the three votes needed for passage. Shortly after the bill’s defeat, Sen. Webb vowed to keep trying, stating “We have been here before. We will keep fighting.” Speaking to students at the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, Webb proclaimed “"We listened, we listened and we adapted our legislation. We were filibustered by the Republicans on a program that should be a no-brainer, a total no-brainer.”
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