The House passed the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act” on Wednesday night, a Democratic bill that would create sweeping police reforms.
The bill passed 220-212. If enacted, it would drastically change qualified immunity for police, the principle that protects law enforcement officials from liability for their actions, by making them accountable for deaths that occurred by “knowingly or reckless disregard.”
It also would create a national police misconduct registry, ban federal law enforcement officials from using chokeholds, and make the banning of chokeholds a condition of federal funding to states, among other measures.
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The last Congress passed the same bill last summer following nationwide Black Lives Matter protests prompted by black Minneapolis man Floyd dying after being held under a white police officer’s knee for several minutes.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brought up that length of time while speaking in favor of the bill on the House floor on Thursday.
“In order to be safe from COVID, we must wash our hands for 20 seconds. As I’m washing my hands for 20 seconds, at about eight or nine seconds, I’m thinking, ‘This is taking forever. I can’t do this for 20 seconds. It takes too long.'”
“And then, I think of George Floyd,” Pelosi said. “Eight minutes and 46 seconds.”
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Republicans used debate on the bill to bring up far-left pushes to “defund the police.” Firebrand Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called it a “defund-the-police bill.”
“The bill rests on a false premise and promotes a false narrative that police are racist and use their power to advance racist ends,” said North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop.
The measure faces a rough road in the Senate, in a chamber divided 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote. Unless the Senate filibuster, effectively requiring 60 votes for passage, is eliminated, Republicans would be able to block the proposal.
