NEW YORK, NY February 07, 2008 —When he goes before Congress today, Attorney General Michael Mukasey will call for quick action to prevent the release of thousands of violent criminals under new federal crack cocaine sentencing rules.

In remarks prepared for today's hearing, Mukasey says he's willing to go along with new sentencing guidelines that reduce federal prison time for first-time, nonviolent crack cocaine convicts - but not others.

The new sentencing rules go into effect in less than a month.

Mukasey will also face tough questions about the torture technique known as waterboarding.

Members of Congress are also expected to ask him tough questions about how former Attorney General John Ashcroft got a multi-million dollar contract through New Jersey's US Attorney, Chris Christie.

WNYC's Bob Hennelly reports.

Both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees are looking into the deal that could net former Attorney General Ashcroft's consultant firm as much as $52 million to keep an eye on a midwest knee and hip replacement company.

Zimmer Holdings avoided criminal prosecution by submitting to Ashcroft's monitoring for the Department of Justice.

The settlement assured the company would not face charges for paying kickbacks to doctors.

US Attorney Christie insists Ashcroft's reputation and capabilities were his only consideration.

One recent academic legal study found that over the last 4 years there has been 7-fold increase in the use of private attorneys as monitors by the Department of Justice.

For WNYC, I'm Bob Hennelly.