Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Sunday that he is working with two GOP senators on a police reform bill in response to the killing of Tyre Nichols last month.
Booker said he and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) have “not stopped talking” about police reform legislation since the pair’s 2021 attempt at a deal fell through.
WATCH: DURBIN URGES BOOKER AND SCOTT TO REVISIT POLICE REFORM AFTER TYRE NICHOLS’S DEATH
“Tim and I have not stopped talking,” Booker said in a Sunday interview with Face The Nation on CBS. “We may have stopped formal negotiations, but he and I are actually friends. … We’re two black men in America who’ve had really awful experiences with law enforcement.”
He said he is approaching police reform the same way lawmakers moved toward the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that strengthened gun safety laws while preserving Second Amendment rights.
“It was not everything we wanted, like universal background checks or assault weapons ban, but it was a significant step forward,” Booker said. “We are looking at this bill or the potential to get legislation through.”
Booker said he also has talked to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) about introducing policing reform legislation.
“He is somebody that agrees with me that there is common sense here,” Booker said. “I’m happy that I have Republican colleagues that agree this is wrong and we’re trying to work something out.”
Legislation focusing on policing reform spurned into action after the death of George Floyd, whom House Democrats named their policing bill for, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The House passed the bill, but it died in the Senate after negotiations failed.
A CBS News/YouGov poll released on Sunday found that 89% of people believe there should be changes in U.S. police departments, with 47% wanting to see major changes. Sixty-one percent of Democrats, 47% of independents, and 29% of Republicans said police reform in the United States is a high priority.
Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX) told Nichols’s family that she will reintroduce the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act with a “Tyre Nichols Duty to Intervene” component after President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. Vice President Kamala Harris called on Congress to pass the act at Nichols’s funeral last week.
However, Scott called the resurrection of that bill a “nonstarter” in a Twitter thread last week.
“Resurrecting the House progressives’ police reform bill is a nonstarter. I’ve been working toward common ground solutions that actually have a shot at passing,” Scott wrote. “Solutions to increase funding and training to make sure only the best wear the badge. Solutions that would have made a difference in places like Memphis & Kenosha.”
Graham has hinted toward a compromise on qualifying immunity for officers, something that would have been severely limited or even removed in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. It shields law enforcement from civil lawsuits unless accusers can prove a violation of constitutional rights.
“I oppose civil lawsuits against individual officers,” Graham tweeted. “However, holding police departments accountable makes sense and they should face liability for the misconduct of their officers.”
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Despite a divided Congress, Booker said he is “sobered” at the idea of finding common ground across the aisle.
“We are a nation right now that should set the global standard for professionalism policing, and we are falling short of that to the horror of more and more Americans,” Booker said. “I want to get something to the president’s desk that will make Americans safer, that will give more confidence in American policing and more transparency and accountability when things go wrong, or to stop things from going wrong.”
