The U.S. Sentencing Commission on Friday approved an amendment allowing tens of thousands of inmates who are currently serving time for drug related crimes to apply for reduced sentences.

The seven-member commission, which sets criminal sentencing policies throughout the nation, unanimously voted in favor of the reduction and said it would apply to most drug offenders in federal prisons.

"This amendment received unanimous support from the commissioners because it is a nuanced approach," said Judge Patti Saris, the chair of the commission.

Based on a similar 2007 vote regarding inmates serving time for crack cocaine crimes, the commissioners found that there was no greater risk of committing another crime by inmates released early compared to those who served a full sentence, according to Al-Jazeera America.

"This vote will change the lives of tens of thousands of families whose loved one were given overly long drug sentences," said Julie Stewart, the president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

More than 46,000 inmates qualify for reduced sentences and each are likely to have an average of two years reduced from their prison time, according to the commission.

Congress would have to strike down the new rule by Nov. 1 if it disapproves of the amendment. Judges can start reviewing and considering sentence reduction petitions from inmates if Congress does not step in.

However, the commissioners implemented a special rule that prohibits prisoners from being released before Nov. 1, 2015. The mandate was included to allow judges an "appropriate" amount of time to consider each petition, Saris said.

According to statistics compiled by the commission, about 28 percent of those eligible are in prison for trafficking methamphetamine while a similar number were incarcerated for powder cocaine offenses. Those who trafficked crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana and oxycodone make up a small number of the prisoners whose sentences are to be reduced.

The decision also comes amid considerable support from both Republicans and Democrats who have advocated for criminal justice reform in recent years.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Eric Holder testified at a commission hearing regarding the proposal of sentence reductions in which he gave his support for lesser penalties for non-violent drug offenders, who make up roughly 216,000 inmates in the federal prison system.

"This is a milestone in the efforts to make more efficient use of our law enforcement resources and to ease the burden on our overcrowded prison system," Holder said in statement following the commission's vote.

He also said he would order the Bureau of Prisons to immediately start notifying the qualified prisoners that they can apply for a reduced sentence.