Trump Police Reform: Senate Republicans Join Administration With Bill Discouraging Chokeholds, Other Tactics

Nationwide racial justice protests prompted Senate Republicans on Wednesday to unveil a police reform measure that is considered much weaker than a package under consideration in the House. The Senate bill discourages such tactics as chokeholds but doesn’t ban them.

The action follows weeks of protests touched off by the death of George Floyd, who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck. Treatment of protesters in the wake of that incident have prompted calls to “defund the police.”

“We’re serious about making a law here,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in unveiling the measure.

The House is considering its own measure. It bans chokeholds and the militarization of police forces, and would remove qualified immunity protections for officers that protect them from lawsuits for misconduct in the line of duty – a provision already rejected by McConnell.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, has championed police reform since 2015. The bill unveiled Wednesday would withhold federal funding from departments that allow such tactics as chokeholds and certain no-knock warrants or decline to document them. It also makes lynching a hate crime, requires reporting of all officer-related deaths and promotes expanded use of body-cams.

“We hear you,” Scott said to the families of those killed by police. “We’re listening to your concerns.”

Democrats called the Senate bill “cosmetic,” panning it as falling far short of what is needed to fight racial injustice and police brutality.

The introduction followed President Trump’s executive order Tuesday that provides incentives to police departments to reform their operations and implement “best practices.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the executive order fell far short of what needs to be done.

“While the president has finally acknowledged the need for policing reform, one modest executive order will not make up for his years of inflammatory rhetoric and policies designed to roll back the progress made in previous years,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Tuesday.

Trump said he is willing to work with lawmakers.

McConnell has labeled the Democrats’ bill, which is expected to be advanced by the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, as an overreach and said the Senate has “no interest” in it.

Pelosi called McConnell’s position “disgraceful,” and said that “it really ignores the concerns of the American people.”