Senate GOP to restrict police chokeholds in emerging bill
Driven by a swift-moving national debate, Senate Republicans are on the brink of introducing an extensive package of policing changes with new restrictions on police chokeholds and other practices as Congress rushes to respond to mass demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans.
It’s a sudden shift of GOP priorities, with President Donald Trump signaling support. The White House will announce its own executive actions on law enforcement procedures on Tuesday, a crush of activity that shows how quickly protests over police violence and racial prejudice are transforming national politics.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell opened the chamber Monday declaring that
WASHINGTON —
Senate Republicans are developing “a serious proposal to reform law enforcement.”
While the emerging GOP package isn’t as extensive as the sweeping Democratic proposal, which is headed for a House vote next week, it includes perhaps the most far-reaching proposed changes to policing procedures from the party long aligned with a “law and order” approach. Confronted with a groundswell of public unrest over police violence, in cities large and small nationwide, even the most conservative senators are joining the effort.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole African American Republican in the Senate, has been crafting the package set to roll out Wednesday, and said he spoke with Trump about it over the weekend. Scott warned that pushing voting into later this summer would be a “bad decision.” He has said the chokehold, in particular, “is a policy whose time has come and gone.”
The weekend shooting death of Rayshard Brooks by a white officer in Atlanta led to a renewed public outcry, more street protests and the police chief’s swift resignation.
Democrats have said the GOP package doesn’t go far enough to match the outpouring of support for reforms. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned Republicans not to settle for minor changes.
“Now is the time to seek bold and broadscale change, not change around the margins,” Schumer said Monday.
Two senior administration officials told reporters that Trump’s executive order would include establishing a database that tracks police officers who have complaints about excessive use of force in their records. The officials said the president wants to keep officers facing such accusations from being able to hop from one police department to another.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks during a Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing to examine implementation of Title I of the CARES Act June 10 on Capitol Hill in Washington.