President Joe Biden is abandoning a campaign pitch to form a policing commission in favor of pushing Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki didn’t rule out a commission in the future but told reporters on Monday the Biden administration’s focus would now be “on moving the legislation forward.”
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“Real change is a priority for him. It is something he looks forward to continuing to discuss with members of Congress,” Psaki said of the president.
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Psaki did not provide more details on how the White House is pressuring the Senate to take up the bill. The administration, however, is working with civil rights groups, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, on the next steps after the organizations advised that “the commission would not be the most constructive way to deliver on our top priorities,” according to Psaki.
“He believes that there is a path forward, that this piece of legislation offers that path forward, and he certainly will use the power of his presidency to move it forward,” she said of Biden.
Biden’s pivot from the policing commission coincides with more unrest in Minneapolis this weekend in response to the alleged police shooting death of 20-year-old black man Daunte Wright. Psaki said Biden would comment on Wright’s death, which occurred after a traffic stop, later on Monday. Protesters clashed with police and destroyed businesses overnight after news of Wright’s death circulated through the community.
“It is a reminder of the pain, the anger, the trauma, the exhaustion that many communities across the country have felt, as we see, these incidents continue to occur within just a few miles of where the tragic events happened just a year ago,” Psaki added.
House Democrats passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 in February. The bill was introduced last year following Floyd’s death on Memorial Day after Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the 46-year-old black man’s neck for almost nine minutes. Floyd’s death, captured on video, sparked months of protests over police brutality and racial injustice around the country and world.
The legislation seeks to address complaints of police misconduct and racial bias by establishing a national operation standard, as well as streamlining federal law for excessive force prosecutions and independent policing investigations.
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The 11th day of Chauvin’s trial on charges of second-degree murder and other lesser offenses started on Monday.
