Senate Democrats block GOP policing measure
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a Republican-drafted bill aimed at overhauling the nation’s policing practices amid a national outcry for a systematic transformation of law enforcement — spelling a potential death knell to efforts at revisions at the federal level in an election year.
In a 55-45 vote, the legislation written primarily by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., failed to advance in the Senate, where it needed 60 votes to proceed. Most Democratic senators said the bill fell far short of what was needed to meaningfully change policing tactics and was beyond the point of salvageable.
“The Republican majority proposed the legislative equivalent of a fig leaf — something that provides a little cover but no real change,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech Wednesday morning. “The harsh fact of the matter is, the bill is so deeply, fundamentally and irrevocably flawed, it cannot serve as a useful starting point for meaningful reform.”
Democrats are pushing a more expansive policing bill that the Democrat-led House will vote on Thursday, a measure that would mandate several changes, including a federal ban on chokeholds, prohibitions on no-knock warrants in federal drug cases and establishment of a national database to track police misconduct.
Its prospects are dim as Republicans say it has no chance in the Senate and the Trump administration issued a formal veto threat on Wednesday.
“The Senate Republicans want very much to pass a bill on police reform … we have total cooperation with many different communities, including the police community. They want it very much to happen,” President Donald Trump said at a news conference later Wednesday at the White House. “The Democrats don’t want to do it because they want to weaken our police, they want to take away immunity, they want to do other things.”
The failed Senate vote came after an impassioned speech by Scott, the lone black Republican in the Senate, who said his bill was an opportunity to say, “Not only do we hear you, not only do we see you, we are responding to your pain.”
The gridlock on Capitol Hill stands in contrast with the growing public support for police reform measures in the four weeks since the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed in police custody, galvanized the nation and prompted demands for racial justice. A national Associated Press-NORC survey conducted this month found a sweeping desire nationwide for police reform, with clear majorities across racial and party lines supporting changes such as requiring officers to wear body cameras and prosecuting those who use excessive force.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, one of three members of the Democratic caucus to join Republicans in voting to advance the bill, bemoaned the outcome.
“My concern was that voting against it will end the discussion of this subject in the Senate for the foreseeable future, and leave us with nothing to show for all the energy and passion that has brought this issue to the forefront of public consciousness,” King said in a statement.