[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 104 (Thursday, June 4, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2705-S2707]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        REMEMBERING GEORGE FLOYD

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor today after my 
colleagues have held a moment of silence for the passing of George 
Floyd. His family should not be preparing for his funeral today. All 
Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual 
orientation, deserve to have equal protection under the law.
  It is time that we not just speak out about injustice; it is time 
that we pass new Federal laws to protect the civil liberties of U.S. 
citizens and protect them from these injustices. What is our role here 
in the U.S. Senate? I believe it comes to passing new laws for those 
Federal protections.
  The U.S. Attorney General is the top law enforcement of our country. 
He directs and supervises U.S. attorneys that prosecute Federal crimes.
  The Attorney General is supposed to make sure that citizens in our 
country have equal protection of the law. He is supposed to uphold the 
Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable seizure and the Civil 
Rights Act, that protects against excessive use of force by police.
  It is not about calling out the military. It is about protecting the 
civil liberties of our U.S. citizens. He is supposed to enforce 18 U.S. 
Code Sec 242, which prohibits the deprivation of rights under the color 
of law. It criminalizes abuse by police.
  The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is supposed to 
step in

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when police departments have serious abuses. The Civil Rights Division 
is responsible for enforcing Federal prohibitions on patterns or 
practices of policing that violate the Constitution or other Federal 
laws.
  It conducts investigations of allegations of systemic police 
misconduct and reaches comprehensive agreements on reforms that are 
needed to restore effective policing and trust with communities. If it 
cannot reach an agreement, the Division will bring a Federal lawsuit to 
compel the needed reforms.
  Yes, we have something to do here in Washington.
  Throughout U.S. history, the Civil Rights Division has played a major 
role in a number of critical cases, including the prosecution and 
murders of Medgar Evers and Dr. Martin Luther King.
  Yes, we have something to do here in Washington.
  The Obama administration made policing reform a priority. The Civil 
Rights Division was active in helping oversee pattern and practices of 
police department abuses and entered numerous consent decrees with 
Seattle, with New Orleans, on Ferguson, with Baltimore, and with 
Cleveland.
  Why? Because we had cases that needed that Federal oversight. We saw 
that there were abuses of use of force across the country, including 
even in my home State, that we needed to address.
  In 2006, Otto Zehm, a man with developmental disabilities, was 
wrongly accused of stealing money from an ATM. Mr. Zehm was improperly 
hog-tied by police, placed on his stomach, and he died from lack of 
oxygen to his brain. As he was dying, he said, ``I was just on my way 
to get a Snicker bar.''
  It breaks my heart that somebody with disabilities was treated this 
way. There was a Federal indictment in this case and the police officer 
was found guilty of excessive use of force, lying to investigators 
about the confrontation. As a result of a civil case, the Spokane 
police were required to receive special training on interaction with 
mentally ill suspects and detainees.
  In 2010, John T. Williams, a Native American, a seventh-generation 
woodcarver who used his knife to make street art, was fatally shot 
seven times in the back by Seattle police. He had hearing difficulties 
and mental health challenges. Literally, he was just carving in one 
spot and decided to move across the street to another spot. When he 
didn't respond to the officer, he was shot and killed. The officer who 
killed Mr. Williams wasn't charged, but the U.S. Department of Justice 
did investigate and found that there was a pattern and practice of 
abuse by Seattle police.
  The U.S. Department of Justice and Seattle agreed on a consent 
decree, which required a number of reforms.
  And now, just recently, an African American named Manuel Ellis died 
from respiratory arrest due to physical restraint by a Tacoma police 
officer. This just happened in March of 2020. Meth and an enlarged 
heart contributed to his death, but the Pierce County medical examiner 
ruled his death a homicide, and his case is under investigation.
  All of these issues in the State of Washington led our citizenry to 
have a debate about this. In 2018, 62 percent of Washington voters 
approved ballot initiative 940. It required de-escalation. It required 
training for police officers to understand how to help and deal with 
the public. It mandated first aid to a victim of deadly force, and it 
required an outside investigation into the use of that deadly force.
  It also removed the requirement that prosecutors prove malice to hold 
police officers criminally liable for use of deadly force. And that 
continues to need improvement in our state.
  These were steps in the right direction, but these events in the last 
several weeks have showed us that it is not time to step back from this 
issue; it is time to pass new Federal legislation.
  Under the Trump administration and Attorney General Barr, the U.S. 
Department of Justice Civil Rights Division police practices group has 
been reduced to half. It has not opened a major pattern-or-practice 
investigation of police departments' violation of civil and 
constitutional rights. President Trump and his administration have 
pulled back from Department of Justice's important oversight role, at a 
time we can see that we need more of a Federal role, not less.
  In November 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions changed the 
Department of Justice policy to make it even harder for the Department 
to perform its oversight role of our police departments. He made it 
harder for the Department of Justice to reach dissent decrees with 
State and city governments and limited the reforms that they could 
require.
  The Trump administration has shown that it isn't interested in the 
community policing programs that have shown success in the past. There 
are numbers that statistically show that better investment in community 
policing helps us lower the crime rate.
  In 2017, the Trump administration led the U.S. Department of Justice 
to significantly scale back on the Obama-era program called 
Collaborative Reform Initiative, which provided support to improve 
trust between police and communities. And under the Trump 
administration, it no longer strongly supports consent decrees, which 
have been so helpful in holding local cities and police departments 
accountable for civil rights abuses.
  The Trump administration tried to defund the Office of Community 
Policing and Services Program. Thank god our colleagues have refused 
that. This provides important Federal funding help hire community 
policing and officers and to provide technical assistance.
  I think this stands in stark contrast to President Obama, who 
requested that the COPS program be funded each year in his budget 
request.
  But all of this brings us to where we are today. What the citizenry 
of the United States of America is telling us is that we need better 
laws on the books. I believe we need to act here. The death of George 
Floyd has shown us that there is a clarion call and a need for more 
Federal action.
  I believe in these things: I believe that we should have a 
prohibition on chokeholds and knee restraints that cut off oxygen to 
the brain.
  I believe that we should, just like the State of Washington, provide 
for more Federal support for de-escalation training.
  I believe in establishing a Federal standard for the use of body 
cameras, and when they should be mandatory, because I think they should 
be, and making sure that what happens to the video is available, and 
that the public knows and understands what is happening.
  I believe in requiring an independent investigation, just like we did 
under State statute--and by the way, that initiative that was voted on, 
with some of these provisions in them, in the State of Washington, and 
received 60-percent approval from the Washingtonians of our State. Why? 
Because they believe these things are essential. The Duckworth bill 
provides for a independent investigation when deadly force has been 
used, and we should be making this the Federal law of the land.
  And we need to provide more support for community policing, and not 
just the dollars but accountability for when and how the dollars are 
used, so the community knows exactly what is going on with the Federal 
dollars for community policing.
  And we need to require the Attorney General and Assistant Attorney 
General, who lead the USDOJ Civil Rights Division, to vigorously 
identify and end patterns and practices of abuse in police departments 
and seek penalties for those who haven't.
  I suggest a Federal audit every year where there are practices and 
patterns of abuse and give us the information so that we in Congress 
can also help in holding those accountable for not meeting the Federal 
standards of upholding citizenries' civil rights.
  And we need to create a clear Federal standard on the use deadly 
force, just like the Washington State voters did when they passed 
legislation. Whether we do it like the Washington voters in ending the 
defense on malice, or whether we look at what my colleagues Senator 
Booker, Harris, and Markey have suggested, let's have that debate.
  I am ready to say to my side of the aisle: Let's get these issues--I 
mentioned seven of them--let's get them out here. I am asking my 
colleagues on this side of the aisle: let's engage on this Federal 
debate and show the citizenry of America that we hear them.

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  Let's not also just be deaf to the plight and fate that our officers 
are dealing with every day on the streets of America. We need more 
funding to help our police departments. We definitely, in some cases, 
need additional pay. But for this, we also need to deal with our 
housing crisis, our mental health crisis, our opioid addiction crisis. 
So many of our men and women in blue are policing our streets not for 
crimes but for dealing with the population that is living on the 
streets. We need to do better here than to shortchange them and to not 
help--not to help correct these situations that have now become day-to-
day tasks in what has never been part of the law enforcement effort.
  I ask my colleagues, let's put our differences aside to get real 
action on these. There is a Federal role on civil rights enforcement. 
Let's take that role seriously, let's respond to the death, and do 
something about it. I know that the best way to honor George Floyd 
today would be to help pass the laws that help protect the citizenry of 
our State. We are a great country, and we can do better by meeting this 
challenge.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to complete my 
remarks before the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.