WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) ─ House Democrats are urging the Senate to take up the House-passed “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.”
Rep. David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island, said Americans demanding justice for police brutality won’t stop until Congress passes meaningful police reform.
“I don’t think they’re going to rest until we do the right thing,” Cicilline said. “Banning choke holds, to making sure that all officers have body cameras, to giving police departments the tools they need to hold bad officers accountable.”
Cicilline said the legislation that recently passed the House would do just that, but the Senate hasn’t touched the bill.
“What they can’t do, is try to have snookered the American people to think they’ve done something about this serious problem in our country,” Cicilline said.
Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Connecticut, said House Democrats will not give up.
“There’s this idea where sometimes you just have to lead,” Hayes said. “I think the American people are not willing to accept less.”
House Democrats say they’re willing to work with Senate Republicans, but need the GOP to show a willingness to compromise.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, authored the Senate’s police reform bill and said he’s working with Rep. Karen Bass, D-South Carolina, who authored the House bill.
“The first vote was a failure,” he said. “The more that she has taken a look at the bill, the more she has suggested that perhaps half or two-thirds of the loaf is better than nothing, because right now we are sitting on zero.”
Scott said he’ll keep working on the legislation as lawmakers on both sides remain optimistic for change.