Senate Democrats blocked a police reform bill Wednesday, calling on the Republican majority to scrap the legislation and start over with bipartisan negotiations.
They made the move ahead of the House passage of a Democratic police reform bill this week that they hope will force the Senate GOP to consider a more stringent law enforcement reform measure.
The JUSTICE Act, authored by Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, failed to garner the 60 votes needed to begin debate on the measure.
The bill would have mostly banned police chokeholds, required full reporting of deaths and injuries in police custody, expanded the use of body cameras by law enforcement, and created a commission on black men and boys, among other provisions.
“It’s a straightforward plan, based on facts, based on data and lived experience,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said. “It focuses on improving accountability and restoring trust. It addresses key issues like chokeholds and no-knock warrants. It expands reporting and transparency and hiring and training for de-escalation.”
After the measure failed to win enough votes, McConnell set up the legislation for fast reconsideration at some point in the future, which opens the door to negotiations with Democrats on a bill that could win enough support to advance.
Democrats want to abandon Scott’s bill and begin from scratch in the Judiciary Committee.
Some bipartisan talks are already ongoing, Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, told reporters.
But a top GOP aide warned that Democrats appear unwilling to strike a deal with the GOP because it would anger their far-left base, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and give President Trump an election-year victory.
“They have zero interest in doing anything which could be seen as helpful, directly or indirectly, to President Trump,” the aide said. “They are also worried about the growing power of the mob and the ‘Squad.’”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Scott’s bill did not include the reforms needed to end racial bias and deadly police misconduct.
“Send it to the Judiciary Committee,” he said. “Something as important as this should have gone through there to begin with. The Republicans came here, dropped the bill on the floor, and said, ‘Take it or leave it.’ Even if we were to get on the bill, there is no conceivable way to rectify all of its many problems.”
Democrats want more stringent regulations on local and federal law enforcement, including an end to qualified immunity for officers and the creation of a national standard for the use of force in policing and independent investigations when someone dies in police custody.
The provisions are part of a House bill, authored by the Democrats, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to bring to the floor and pass as early as Thursday.
Both parties want legislation that addresses public demands for police reforms following the deaths of George Floyd and other black people in police custody. Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Democrats have ramped up their criticism of the GOP bill ahead of Wednesday’s vote. Pelosi told CBS News the GOP bill could not be fixed.
“So far, they were trying to get away with murder, actually — the murder of George Floyd,” she said.
Republicans have demanded an apology from Pelosi.
McConnell and other top Republicans excoriated Democrats for blocking the bill.
“It is clear to me it is an unpardonable sin for Democrats to work with Republicans to try to solve a problem that may benefit Donald Trump,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said.
Democrats, Graham said, “are now refusing to even try and find common ground with Republicans on police reform.”
McConnell said Democrats could have changed the measure on the floor with amendments. But Schumer noted those amendments would not win the 60 votes needed to be included in the bill.
Schumer said that when the House passes the Democratic bill this week, “The nation is going to say to Leader McConnell, get something moving in the Senate.”
As the Senate voted to block the GOP bill, the House Rules Committee began consideration of the Democratic police reform measure.
Sen. Tom Cole, the top Republican on the panel, called the measure “a partisan bill” that “completely shut Republicans out of the process.”
