U.S. Senate police reform vote fails as Democrats reject Republican bill

By David Morgan

 

FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators hold signs and pictures in front of the U.S. Capitol Building during a protest against racial inequality in the aftermath of the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Washington, U.S. June 6, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican bill to rein in police misconduct in the aftermath of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis failed in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, leaving congressional efforts to address racial inequities in American policing at an impasse.

 

Democrats, denouncing the measure as irrevocably flawed, defeated a Republican push to move to final debate by a vote of 55-45, short of the 60 votes needed, a month after Floyd's death in police custody set off weeks of worldwide protests against police brutality.

 

The legislative fight over reform now moves to the House of Representatives, which plans to vote on a more sweeping Democratic bill on Thursday.

 

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and other Senate Democrats said they believed Wednesday's outcome makes it more likely that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the chamber's top Republican, will agree to negotiations on a stronger bipartisan measure.

 

McConnell said he would schedule another vote if there was enough progress on closing Republican-Democratic differences.

 

President Donald Trump said he would not accept Democratic reforms and suggested the issue could end in stalemate. "If nothing happens with it, it's one of those things. We have different philosophies," he told reporters.

 

Following a Republican police reform bill failing in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill "lacked substance."

 

Floyd's May 25 death in Minneapolis, after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, stirred strong public sentiment for stopping excessive force by police, especially against African Americans.

 

Civil rights leaders and activist groups, who called on the Senate to reject the Republican bill, have urged lawmakers to take up stronger measures.

 

Senate Democrats sought to seize the mantle of what they regard as a new U.S. civil rights movement.

 

"This movement will not be deterred. This movement will not accept anything less than real, real, substantial, substantive solutions," said Senator Kamala Harris, a Black lawmaker who helped craft the Democratic legislation.

 

"And so let the beginning be today, of a real conversation," she added.

 

But Senator Tim Scott, the chamber's only Black Republican and author of the failed bill, cautioned that an impasse would leave Black Americans vulnerable to police violence.

 

"Do you know what's going to happen? Something bad. And we'll be right back here talking about what should have been done, what could have been done" to prevent it, Scott said.

 

The Republican and Democratic bills address similar issues: chokeholds, no-knock warrants, police body cameras, use of deadly force and training to de-escalate confrontations with suspects and to encourage officer intervention against illegal conduct as it occurs.

 

Democrats opposed the Republican bill because it relies on incentives to effect reforms and seeks data collection on issues such as no-knock warrants, rather than mandating changes as the Democratic bill does.

 

Republicans warn that the Democratic bill could undermine law enforcement, in part because it would remove qualified immunity protections for police and allow victims of misconduct to sue for damages.

 

A June 22-23 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Americans favor removing the protections, 49% to 26%. Republicans were split on the issue, with 38% favoring removal and 37% opposing it.

 

(Reporting by David Morgan; additional reporting by Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Jonathan Oatis and Richard Cowan)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-25

 

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 Try again in January. There should be a lot of new players by then. 

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and other Senate Democrats said they believed Wednesday's outcome makes it more likely that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the chamber's top Republican, will agree to negotiations on a stronger bipartisan measure.

Much like everything else, they could have had input in the congressional bill and done any debating needed there and skipped a full step in making it a law in the process, but no they didn’t want that because politics and them being <deleted>ty people. 
 

They blocked the bill altogether so they could make their own bill, put their wishlist in, no doubt crammed full of completely unrelated garbage which will definitely cause it to be forever stalled while all the time blaming Republicans. 

46 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

Much like everything else, they could have had input in the congressional bill and done any debating needed there and skipped a full step in making it a law in the process, but no they didn’t want that because politics and them being <deleted>ty people. 
 

They blocked the bill altogether so they could make their own bill, put their wishlist in, no doubt crammed full of completely unrelated garbage which will definitely cause it to be forever stalled while all the time blaming Republicans. 

As an outside, although interested (and I hope informed) observer of such matters, it is always good to hear a non partisan view!

1 hour ago, Mama Noodle said:

Much like everything else, they could have had input in the congressional bill and done any debating needed there and skipped a full step in making it a law in the process, but no they didn’t want that because politics and them being <deleted>ty people. 
 

They blocked the bill altogether so they could make their own bill, put their wishlist in, no doubt crammed full of completely unrelated garbage which will definitely cause it to be forever stalled while all the time blaming Republicans. 

They are right to block it. I mean based on incentives instead of mandating it. Are the republicans for real ?

 

Is like begging the police not to do something and then rewarding them for doing their normal job.

 

Also why would it be wrong for victims of misconduct to sue the police ? 

2 minutes ago, robblok said:

They are right to block it. I mean based on incentives instead of mandating it. Are the republicans for real ?

 

Is like begging the police not to do something and then rewarding them for doing their normal job.

 

Also why would it be wrong for victims of misconduct to sue the police ? 

 

Then debate it, thats what 'bipartisanship' is all about. Republicans and Democrats are so diametrically opposed at this point that one side thinks the other are the face of the absolute worst their party contains. 

 

But that ship has sailed now, and the Democrats are going to own whatever they put forth and they will own nothing happening for the foreseeable future on the issue. 

11 hours ago, pegman said:

 Try again in January. There should be a lot of new players by then. 

The issue will be forgotten about by then. In January the SCOTUS will be deciding if Donald gets another term.

Republicans warn that the Democratic bill could undermine law enforcement, in part because it would remove qualified immunity protections for police and allow victims of misconduct to sue for damages.

 

As if any reform is going to happen without allowing victims of misconduct to sue for damages?

1 hour ago, Pedrogaz said:

The issue will be forgotten about by then. In January the SCOTUS will be deciding if Donald gets another term.

Oh I doubt that more like scotus will be thinking about billey Barr’s jail sentence and trump will be trying to stonewall his indictments the dems were right to scuttle it it was unacceptable