Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) appeared on the Senate floor Monday to offer his opinion on a police reform bill introduced by Republicans.
Schumer acknowledged the timing of the GOP bill as it comes shortly after the House introduced the Justice in Policing Act.
“Here in the Senate, our Republican colleagues have responded to our comprehensive proposal with an approach that is piecemeal and half-hearted,” Schumer said.
He added, “The longer you look at the Republican policing reform effort, the more obvious the shortcomings and deficiencies.”
Check out his comments below:
Schumer listed the reasons he believes the Republicans’ Justice Act is insufficient in solving the issue of police brutality.
He alleged the bill fails to reform the standards protecting police from being held accountable.
Schumer claimed the act also fails to include the encouragement of independent investigations into police departments, reformation of the use of force standard, qualified immunity, racial profiling, and the limitation of the transfer of military equipment to police departments.
According to Schumer, the bill fails to “truly” ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants.
He explained how the bill is ineffective and will only create more problems.
“If we pass a bill that’s ineffective, and the killings continue, and police departments resist change, and there’s no accountability, the wound in our society will not close, it will fester,” Schumer said.
Schumer, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Tuesday urging him to negotiate with Democrats.
“We will not meet this moment by holding a floor vote on the JUSTICE Act, nor can we simply amend this bill, which is so threadbare and lacking in substance that it does not even provide a proper baseline for negotiations,” they wrote.
They added, “The bill is not salvageable and we need bipartisan talks to get to a constructive starting point.”
The Democrat and Republican bills share similarities, as IJR previously reported.
Both bills make lynching a hate crime, call for better training for police departments, and push for widespread use of body cameras.
