Top News
Police reform: Democrats offer a police reform bill
The law – led by the Congressional Black Caucus, Democrats on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and the Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris from California and Cory Booker from New Jersey – emerged when the country was shaken by the deaths of several black Americans recently at the hands of police, including George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis last month after a white policeman knelt on his neck during his neck. more than eight minutes.
“The world is witnessing the birth of a new movement in our country,” Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson Karen Bass told a news conference on Monday where Democrats officially launched the law.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Congress “cannot accept anything other than transformative structural changes.” But the proposal, which does not yet have a Republican co-sponsor, will require bipartisan support to make it through the Senate.
This law is the most extensive effort in recent years to crack down on the federal level about policing practices throughout the US, but is expected to face strong resistance from Republicans, police unions and local officials who do not want Washington to interfere in their policies. make.
“This is a strong movement and has made laws like this, which might not have been possible a month ago, maybe,” Booker told CNN in an interview on Sunday.
According to summary documents obtained by CNN, the law includes a prohibition of chokehold, as well as the creation of a National Police Behavior Violation Register “to prevent troubled officers from changing jurisdiction to avoid accountability.”
The bill also provides incentives for states and regions to mandate racial biased training and teach officials about “their duty to intervene.” The bill sets certain limits on the transfer of military grade equipment to state and local law enforcement and requires federal uniformed police to wear body cameras.
“It is unfortunate he will do that on that day. It is not necessary and frankly it is very painful for many people,” Booker said.
The legislative effort was carried out when protests against police brutality and in support of racial justice had spread across the country in big cities and in rural communities. Over the weekend, thousands of demonstrators in Washington, DC, gathered at the National Mall. Meetings, guarding and protesting make news from rural Montana to the streets of Portland, Maine.
Pelosi did not answer directly when asked on Monday whether he supported the local movement to denude the police.
“The fact is that we have many laws and regulations that address some of the problems of our society throughout the country,” Pelosi said. He suggested people should “have a debate at the local level.”
“It was a local decision,” he said, but “that does not mean we will hoard more money to militarize the police more.”
Republicans have not signaled the embrace of Democratic police legislation announced Monday. While Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced last week that he would hold a hearing on police brutality on June 16, many Republicans in the Senate argued that Congress should not set a nationalized police policy and that in its place, the state and regions must take their own actions.
“It’s a kind of classic Washington. You have one isolated and tragic event and people estimate it and suggest it is an epidemic. And I think it’s just as terrible as what happened to Mr. Floyd and as much as he and his family deserve justice.” “You cannot paint with a broad brush and condemn law enforcement and say this is a systemic failure,” said Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas. “The idea that Congress suddenly needs to postpone a public health crisis, which, by the way, is will not be detained … to deal with this is only, I think, hysteria. “
Republican Senator Roy Blunt from Missouri said he did not think it was possible to produce a nationalized legislative response to the police force.
“I don’t think you can provide a national response or be responsive to behavior or practice, nor do I think you can make a national manual that really makes sense for the department,” he told CNN last week.
Jeffries rejected the Republican view that Congress must sit on the sidelines.
“Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, on the other side of the Capitol, want to continue to bury their heads in the sand,” Jeffries said.
“In the case of the police officers I deal with here in New York City, the majority are good people who are hardworking and who are in the community to protect and serve, but we cannot deny that we have too many brutal officers. … We must overcome this phenomenon. That is why so many Americans have taken to the streets throughout the country. “
Judicial Council Chair Jerry Nadler said he wants to have a committee vote as soon as next week.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday that the Democratic Senate would “fight hard to make this happen” and pass police reform laws in the Senate, filing an appeal directly to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“We must collectively, all Americans, raise our voices and call on Leader McConnell to put this reform bill on the Senate floor before July to be debated and vote,” added, “Leader McConnell, let’s debate, not just on TV and in Twitter, but on the floor of the United States Senate. “
Clare Foran and Haley Byrd from CNN contributed to this report.
General internet buff. Hardcore music maven. Typical foodaholic. Friendly student.