Senate Republicans led by Tim Scott of South Carolina introduced police reform legislation Wednesday, with new restrictions on chokeholds and other practices, as the GOP responded to widespread protests and some riots over the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans.
Scott, the lone black Republican in the Senate, told reporters when unveiling the legislation, dubbed the “Justice Act,” along some of his GOP colleagues:
Too often we’re having a discussion in this nation about are you supporting the law enforcement community or are you supporting communities of color. This is a false binary choice. The answer to the question of which side do you support is I support America and if you support America you support restoring the confidence that communities of color have in institutions of authority.
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We believe that the overwhelming number of officers in this nation are good people, working hard, trying to keep order in the communities … Our policy positions are ones that bring the communities of color into a position of stronger understanding and confidence in the institutions of authority. And we believe that it brings our law enforcement community to a place where they have the resources necessary to deescalate some of these situations.
Scott noted that law enforcement had stopped him for driving while black.
“This issue continues, and that’s why it’s important for us to say that we hear you. We’re listening to your concerns,” the South Carolina senator continued. “The George Floyd incident certainly accelerated this conversation.”
While briefing reporters alongside Scott on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the upper chamber would consider the GOP legislation to reform policing practices next week.
“We’re serious about making a law here. It’s not about trying to create partisan differences. This is about coming together and getting an outcome,” McConnell told reporters.
“Our Democratic friends — if they want to make a law and not just try to make a point, I hope that they’ll join us in getting on the bill and trying to move forward in the way the Senate does move forward when it’s trying to actually get an outcome rather than just sparring back and forth,” he added.
Next week, the Senate will hold a procedural vote on the GOP police reform bill. However, it remains unclear if Democrats will join their Republican colleagues to meet the 60-vote threshold required to begin floor debate on potential amendments.
Among other things, the GOP bill proposed restrictions on chokeholds, a database to monitor enhanced use-of-force, reporting no-knock warrants to the Department of Justice (DOJ, and the establishment of commissions to study policing and race.
It will also place limits on federal funding eligibility if a police agency fails to implement bans on the use of chokeholds “except when deadly force is authorized.”
The GOP bill echoed and expanded on the executive order on addressing police misconduct signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Democrats blasted the Republican police reform bill before Scott introduced it. Some Democrat lawmakers who responded to the release of GOP’s Justice Act argued that it does not go far enough.
Politico noted:
The [GOP] proposal has already drawn criticism from Democrats for not going far enough to reform police practices. The Democratic plan would ban chokeholds, limit qualified immunity for police officers, and stop no-knock warrants in federal drug cases.
The House is expected to vote as soon as next week on the Democratic [police reform] bill. Members of both parties are hoping to get a bill to the president’s desk before the July 4 recess, but so far there are few indications that Democrats and Republicans can strike an agreement.
Some provisions in the “Justice Act” overlap with those contained in the Democrat’s police reform legislation.
Both Democrats and Republicans are proposing making lynching a federal crime. Another bipartisan proposal includes making it a federal crime for a federal law enforcement officer to engage in a sexual act with someone in his or her custody or “while acting under color of law.”
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