# U.S. House passes EQUAL Act 361-66 to end crack-powder cocaine disparity (2021)

Date: 2021

On September 28, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the EQUAL Act (Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of Law Act) by a bipartisan 361-66 vote. The bill would eliminate the federal sentencing disparity between offenses involving crack and powder cocaine, a gap created by the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act that for decades treated crack offenses far more harshly and disproportionately affected Black defendants. Senators Dick Durbin and Cory Booker led the Senate companion bill with a bipartisan group of cosponsors, but the measure subsequently stalled in the Senate and had not become law as of 2025.

## People

- Cory Booker: https://factrail.ai/people/justice-cory-booker

## Drivers

- Supranational rule-of-law accountability pressure: https://factrail.ai/drivers/justice-supranational-accountability-pressure

## Sources

_Sources are listed on the canonical page._

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/justice-fact-equal-act-house-passage-2021