The First Step Act – approved overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in 2018 – was designed to promote the rehabilitation and societal re-entry of prisoners while maintaining public safety. The measure, supported by the ERLC and a diverse coalition, provided training for inmates and reformed some sentencing requirements, including in the case of certain drug offenses.
RELATED: Biden Pledges To Make Abortion Rights No. 1 Priority in Congress
Daniel anticipates the president will focus in his State of the Union speech on a matter she “would not like to see,” she said.
Biden undoubtedly will mention this is the first State of the Union since the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the 1973 Roe v. Wade opinion that legalized abortion nationwide, Daniel said. He will emphasize “all the actions that the administration has taken since that decision came down to promote abortion,” she said.
Since the high court’s June 2022 decision, Biden and his administration have instituted a series of orders and rules seeking to protect expansive abortion rights. The justices’ ruling returned abortion policy to the states.
Hearing the president’s priorities for the year in the State of the Union will benefit the ERLC’s work, Leatherwood said.
“[W]e will know, ‘OK, this is what the president has said,’” Leatherwood told the online audience. “It gives us a sense to know where we’re going to need to speak … more forthrightly, what we may need to publicly oppose and say so through media outlets like Baptist Press and our state Baptist papers.”
The question-and-answer session was held three days after the ERLC issued its 2023 Public Policy Agenda. The document covers issues divided into four categories of priorities: Religious liberty; sanctity of human life; family and marriage; and human dignity.
This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.
