Senate Democrats block police reform bill

  In response to the George Floyd murder and the subsequent protests the Senate Republicans began to craft a police reform bill. This bill included the following reforms:

Among other things, the JUSTICE Act creates a federal system to track police shootings, requires police departments to report no-knock warrants such as the horrific incident in which police officers shot Breonna Taylor, institutes a grant program to help police departments gain access to more body cameras, requires police training on alternatives to the use of force and de-escalation, makes lynching a federal crime, and reforms law enforcement hiring and education. The act also creates economic incentives for local police departments to ban chokeholds.

  Despite demanding action on this issue Democrats in the Senate blocked the legislation, calling it unsalvageable even though the Republicans were going to allow Democrats to make amendments to the legislation. 

  Yet while the Democrats are calling this legislation “unsalvageable” according to the above-linked article it is not all that different from their own version of this bill which is in the House. If the Democrats were truly interested in reforming the police it would seem as if they should have at least debated and amended the Senate bill, and if passed something could have been worked out between the two versions of the bill when it went to conference committee. You know, the way things usually work…

  What this shows us is simple, the Democrats are not interested in police reform. Or I should say, the Democrats are not as interested in police reform as they are in using police reform as a political issue during an election cycle or in assuring the Republicans cannot claim any type of victory on police reform before an election.

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium