In 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, there were some bipartisan talks about police reform legislation. The Democratic-led House and Republican-led Senate, not surprisingly, struggled to reach an agreement. A year later, the House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, but finding a bill that could overcome a Senate GOP filibuster proved impossible.
Now, as NBC News reported, lawmakers are prepared to consider the issue anew.
Senators are seeking to revisit police reform talks after the release of graphic videos of Memphis officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols, although some are skeptical they’ll reach an agreement that can pass in the new divided Congress. … “I want to rekindle this conversation,” [Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick] Durbin told reporters.
At the outset, it’s important to emphasize two broad points: First, there can be no doubt of the issue’s national significance and the importance of federal reform legislation. Second, the odds of success, even as much of the country was repulsed by the video of officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols, are poor.
In the House, for example, the new Republican majority appears disinterested in even trying to address the issue. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, for example, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” over the weekend, and the Ohioan made no effort to defend what transpired in Memphis. The far-right congressman added, however, “I don’t know that there’s any law that can stop that evil that we saw.”
And in the Senate, as some members begin preliminary talks, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who helped take the lead in his party on negotiating earlier proposals on the issue, thought it’d be a good idea yesterday to blame Democrats for the failure of previous efforts.
That wasn’t a great way to start a new round of negotiations, and just as importantly, his rhetoric wasn’t altogether accurate.
In 2020, a modest bill, crafted by Scott,…
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