Different lawmakers prioritize different reforms. Some prefer “front-end” measures (rethinking mandatory-minimum sentencing, especially for minor drug offenses). Others favor “back-end” changes (recidivism-reduction programs like job training and drug rehab). Last Congress, in a flash of legislative genius, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley thought: Why not maximize support by combining front-end and back-end reforms into one bill?

The result was the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, which passed the Judiciary Committee in October 2015 and ultimately drew three dozen co-sponsors from both Senate teams. Of course, not everyone loved it, most notably GOP hard-liners such as Senators Tom Cotton and Jeff Sessions. As such, although the bill was seen as having the votes to pass, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell never brought it to the floor last year in order to avoid causing waves in his conference during all the campaign craziness. Supporters nonetheless remained encouraged that, post-election, things would settle down enough to revisit the bill.

You see where this is headed, right?

Donald Trump strutted into office vowing to be the toughest of law-and-order presidents. To aid in his crusade, he chose the staunchly anti-reform Jeff Sessions as his attorney general. During his confirmation proceedings, Sessions was asked about his opposition to reform. (The Alabama senator was one of only a handful of judiciary members to oppose SRCA.) He assured former colleagues that it was their job to make the laws; as AG, he would just be there to enforce them.

This may be technically correct. But as Hill folks will tell you (rather grumpily), the AG has a heap of wiggle room in how laws are enforced—and, more broadly, in the message he sends about the state of U.S. law enforcement both to the public and to the president. Pretty much everyone regarded Sessions’s appointment as a blow to reform. Even so, Grassley gamely insisted in January that he would revive SRCA sooner rather than later.

Desperate for administration allies, reform advocates were tickled pink when Jared Kushner came to the Capitol in late March to talk reform with Grassley, Durbin, and Lee. (The dream is that Kushner is sympathetic to reform because his dad did a stint in federal prison.) Senate aides say it was more a listening session than an offer of support. But it gave disheartened advocates a shred of hope and emboldened them to renew their quest for backers. Post-meeting, Grassley announced that he would know the administration’s position on reform legislation “in three weeks.”

Two-plus months later, the White House has yet to offer further guidance.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Sessions has jammed his thumb deep into reformers’ eye sockets. Last month, his office issued a directive that federal prosecutors should pursue the toughest possible charges and sentences for even nonviolent drug offenders (a reversal of Obama-era policy). Reform fans on and off the Hill were dismayed. (A trio of Senate Democrats from the Judiciary Committee had publicly petitioned Sessions not to go in this direction.)