Congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden have abandoned a May 25 deadline for a bipartisan police reform bill because the two parties can’t agree on key provisions.
“I doubt it, highly doubt it, we’ll have it done by Tuesday,” Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, told a reporter in the Capitol this week.
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Biden, in an April joint address to Congress, called on lawmakers to pass a police reform bill before the one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd.
“Let’s get it done next month, by the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death,” Biden said, generating bipartisan applause in the chamber.
“The country supports this reform and Congress should act.”
Floyd, a black man, died in police custody after then-officer Derek Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes. Floyd’s death touched off a summer of civil unrest in many U.S. cities. Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder on April 20.
Lawmakers said Chauvin’s conviction would push negotiators to a long-awaited accord on police reform, but in the weeks since the trial ended, the two parties have struggled to resolve major sticking points.
None of the negotiators are willing to impose a deadline, and Biden is now backing down on May 25.
“We are in close touch, and we certainly defer to the expectations of the key negotiators,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said when asked about Biden’s hope for a bill by the Floyd anniversary date.
A top sticking point in the negotiations is “qualified immunity,” which shields law enforcement from liability, even in cases where they break the law or are charged with misconduct.
House Democrats have twice passed police reform legislation that would end qualified immunity and increase individual officer liability. The measure would ban chokeholds, no-knock warrants for drug offenses, and make additional major changes to the nation’s policing.
Republicans oppose ending qualified immunity and say it would hinder police from fighting crime. But Democrats say qualified immunity makes it difficult to hold police fully accountable for excessive force and other misconduct that they believe has unfairly targeted minorities, including Floyd.
Republican negotiators have countered the qualified immunity provision with one that would shift liability away from individual officers and on to police departments.
But that could lose the support of the most liberal members of the House Democratic Caucus, which holds a very slim majority and can afford few defections without the help of the GOP.
A group of 10 liberal House Democrats sent a letter to bipartisan House and Senate leaders, urging them against softening the House bill that would end qualified immunity.
“Maintaining and strengthening the provision that would eliminate qualified immunity once and for all would put us on a path toward true accountability and help end the systemic and systematic harm that has long been perpetuated by American policing,” the group wrote, led by Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri.
Negotiators in the House and Senate hold frequent meetings but have yet to emerge with a solid deal.
And no one is setting a deadline.
“We are making progress,” Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican leading the negotiations in the Senate, said.
But Scott acknowledged the demand by House Democrats to eliminate qualified immunity remains unresolved.
“I’m on the exact opposite side,” Scott said earlier this week when asked about the Democratic provision to end qualified immunity.
Scott is working with Rep. Karen Bass, who is negotiating on behalf of the Democrats.
Bass, of California, was unconcerned about missing the May 25 deadline.
“What’s most important is that we are all very motivated to get this across the finish line,” Bass said.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said Bass will remain at the Capitol next week, when the rest of the House is back home for a district work period.
“I’m not a timetable person,” Pelosi said. “You can’t do it until it’s ready in the best possible way. And that is more valuable than having it a couple of weeks early.”
