House Set to Pass Policing Overhaul as Partisan Impasse Deepens

(Bloomberg) -- The House is poised to pass the most sweeping overhaul of policing rules in U.S. history with little expectation the vote will break a partisan standoff in the Senate and lead to enactment of a plan anytime soon.

The House proposal, named the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act after the African American man who died a month ago at the hands of Minneapolis police, has 230 Democratic co-sponsors, ensuring that it has the votes to pass Thursday evening.

“This is the day we pass legislation to transform policing in America,” said bill author Karen Bass, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus Chair. “We are supposed to be the beacon of hope for human rights in other countries, and the Justice in Policing Act is a bill for human rights in our country.”

A day earlier, a less stringent policing plan proposed by Senate Republicans was blocked by Democrats who said it was inadequate to address police brutality in response to massive demonstrations across the U.S. Few Republicans are expected to support the House bill Thursday after their leaders recommended a “no” vote and the White House formally opposed it.

President Donald Trump dug in against the House proposal, H.R.7120, on Wednesday, accusing Democrats of wanting to “weaken the police.” The White House has said it opposes provisions that would make it easier for alleged victims of police abuse to sue officers in court.

“We can’t live with that,” Trump said at a White House news conference. “So if nothing happens with it, it’s one of those things, we have different philosophies.”

No-Knock Warrants

Wednesday’s 55-45 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate was short of the 60 needed to advance the Republican legislation, S. 3985.

While Democrats held out hope for negotiations, some key Republicans said it’s likely a dead issue in the Senate.

“It seems to be,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican Republican, said. “It’s a shame but we are where we are.”

South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, who authored the GOP plan, said the momentum behind the legislation ”is dissipating as we speak.”

Democrats “are playing a dangerous game of politics that they can afford to wait until November or next year,” said Scott, the only Black Republican in the chamber. “They may be right, but it’s a dangerous game.”

Senate Democrats said Scott’s measure lacked sufficient enforcement measures to hold rogue police officers to account and didn’t do enough to eliminate deadly practices such as choke-holds and no-knock warrants used to enter homes in drug cases.

Republicans said they would have allowed floor amendments on those matters and alleged Democrats would rather have policing as an election-year issue than find a compromise.

“Our Democratic colleagues tried to say with straight faces that they want the Senate to discuss police reform — while they blocked the Senate from discussing police reform,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

McConnell has scheduled the Senate to debate the annual national defense policy bill next, ahead of a two-week July 4 recess. The Senate expects to debate an economic stimulus plan after July 20.

Public Pressure

House Democrats say they hope passage of their bill will help Senate Democrats persuade Republicans to use it as a basis for negotiations.

“When we pass this bill, the Senate will have a choice to honor George Floyd’s life or do nothing,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “The debate on policing reform is only over for those who want it to be over.” The New York Democrat added, “And maybe for those who never truly wanted this debate in the first place.”

Democrats are banking on continued street protests and a surge of public support for the Black Lives Matter movement to put pressure on Senate Republicans.

A New York Times/Siena College poll released Wednesday found that by a margin to 59% to 30%, those surveyed think Floyd’s death in Minneapolis last month is part of a pattern of police violence, and that 57% support the protests. The survey was conducted June 17-22, 2020 by telephone calls in English and Spanish to 1,337 registered voters, with an error margin of +/- 3.0 percentage points.

Bass said in an interview she plans to talk to Scott, the Republican sponsor of the Senate bill, and sees a basis for compromise as pressure continues.

“I don’t view this situation as being over at all,” she said. “I hope people protest every single day.”

New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker, one of two Black Democrats in the Senate and a sponsor his party’s version of the legislation, said that activism will “push this Congress to catch up to history.”

‘Qualified Immunity’

The biggest areas of disagreement center on GOP opposition to Democratic efforts to end “qualified immunity” that protects individual officers from lawsuits, lower the “guilty mind” standard needed to criminally prosecute police; create a national database of complaints against officers, end no-knock warrants in drug cases, and stop military hardware from being turned over to local police.

Republicans argue that the changes on lawsuits would cause police to hesitate in emergency situations, potentially costing lives.

Lower standards on lawsuits or prosecutions of police would mean “an officer will not only put his life on the line every time he is working a shift, but he will put his home, his possessions, and the sanctity of his family on the line,” wrote House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs of Arizona in a Washington Examiner opinion essay. “It also means that it will be even harder to recruit and retain officers.”

Republicans say banning no-knock warrants would be dangerous in some cases involving heavily armed drug kingpins, and that the database of complaints could include unfounded allegations against police.

“The Senate bill is sham, fake reform,” House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on Thursday. “They must support our legislation and I predict that eventually -- it may take a while for the pressure to build up in our country-- they will.”

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