Senate Republicans said they are working on a comprehensive proposal to respond to racially motivated police misconduct and other reforms to the criminal justice system.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is the only black Republican in the Senate, is leading the effort, GOP lawmakers said Tuesday.
Recommended Stories
“I’ve asked Sen. Tim Scott to lead a group working on proposals to allow us to respond to the obvious racial discrimination on full display on our television screens the last two weeks and what is the appropriate response of the federal government,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
Scott has introduced the Walter Scott Notification Act, which would compel states to track and record the details, including race, of every police shooting. States that failed to track and report the data would lose federal funding.
He first introduced the measure in 2015. It’s named for Walter Scott, an unarmed black man shot to death by a white police officer after a traffic stop.
Republicans are also proposing a number of other ideas based on past legislation, including the creation of a national criminal justice commission to formulate needed reforms and a national database to keep track of police misconduct.
Republicans also favor passing legislation incentivizing local police departments to ban the use of the chokehold, which is similar to the maneuver used by a white officer on George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, sparking widespread protests and civil unrest.
Police in New York City used a chokehold in 2014 on Eric Garner, a black man in their custody. It caused Garner to have an asthma attack, and he died in their custody.
Many Republicans said they favor banning the chokehold, and Attorney General William Barr told Fox News on Monday he supports prohibiting its use by federal law enforcement.
“Most police departments do that already,” Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said, noting that the chokehold is prohibited in many city departments.
The chokehold was already banned in New York City when officer Daniel Pantaleo used it on Garner to restrain him. Pantaleo was fired.
“One thing that strikes me is, where is the accountability for mayors, the councils, and police departments?” Cornyn added. “If we can figure out a way to realign incentives to make them care about fixing those things, rather than just saying it’s not our problem, then I think that would be worth talking about.”
The Senate GOP, which controls the majority, is, for now, working on the proposal without Democratic input.
Across the Capitol, House Democrats control the majority. They released their own police reform measure on Monday without any GOP input. The House bill would ban federal police from using the chokehold and effectively prohibit it at the local level with funding incentives. It would make it easier to sue police for misconduct, require independent investigations of deadly force by police officers, and establish national reporting requirements for police misconduct.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican whose proposal to reduce militarization of police departments is part of the Senate GOP proposal, said the partisan approaches threaten to derail the effort. The two parties need to negotiate a compromise, Paul said, to give legislation a chance to pass.
“I think there is going to be a Republican proposal and a Democratic proposal,” Paul told reporters on Tuesday. “The only thing that bothers me about that is what usually happens when there is a Republican proposal and a Democratic proposal is an impasse. Nothing happens.”
McConnell has become increasingly focused on passing police reform legislation.
In his home state of Kentucky, police in March shot and killed black EMT worker Breonna Taylor in her own apartment while they were executing a no-knock warrant. Taylor was unarmed.
McConnell said her death and Floyd’s are among police misconduct incidents that raise questions about police tactics. He also believes racial discrimination persists in the United States and plays a role in police misconduct.
McConnell gave Scott the floor during a closed-door lunch with fellow Republicans on Tuesday to discuss his views about reform and what a proposal should include.
Scott has been vocal about his own experiences with police discrimination. He’s been stopped several times in the Capitol by police who do not recognize he is a senator. It’s something that rarely happens to white senators.
“He’s had this experience,” McConnell said of Scott. “We are still wrestling with America’s original sin. We try to get better, but every now and then, it’s perfectly clear we are a long way away from the finish line.”
