The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday is pressing forward with Democrats’ bill to overhaul policing practices in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minnesota last month, setting up a collision course with Senate Republicans rolling out their own legislation.
The action follows President Trump signing an executive order on Tuesday to try to discourage police officers from using chokeholds, encourage information sharing on officers who have a history of complaints, and incentivize police departments to deploy social workers in certain situations.
“We have to change the culture,” Rep. Karen Bass, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus and is the lead sponsor of the House bill, said Wednesday on MSNBC.
House Democrats’ bill, dubbed the Justice in Policing Act, bans chokeholds at the federal level and ties state and local law enforcement funding on following through on a ban as well.
Floyd, a black man, died while in Minneapolis police custody after a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. His death has sparked waves of protests and calls for racial justice around the world in recent weeks.
Among other provisions, the Democrats’ bill also bans no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level, requires federal uniformed officers to wear body cameras, and makes it easier for individuals to pursue civil damages over officer misconduct by eliminating qualified immunity for law enforcement.
Some on the left are pushing to defund police departments, and the Minneapolis City Council passed a resolution last week to start a process that would disband the city’s police department structure.
But Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill have generally rejected the “defund the police” movement.
Senate Republicans are countering on Wednesday with legislation spearheaded by Sen. Tim Scott, South Carolina Republican, that is expected to build on Mr. Trump’s executive order through incentives and grants to encourage best practices.
It’s expected to condition certain funding on law enforcement agencies’ developing a policy to limit the use of chokeholds, provide for grants to expand the use of body cameras and encourage information-sharing.
“We focus on gathering more information, more data so that we can direct training in the direction that actually de-escalates. It gives the responsibility to intervene in certain situations,” Mr. Scott said Wednesday on “Fox & Friends.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the House bill isn’t going anywhere in the Senate, while Democrats have said the Republican approach likely doesn’t go far enough.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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