[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 113 (Thursday, June 18, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S3075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Justice in Policing Act

  Madam President, now let's get to some other very important issues as 
well.
  Two weeks ago, House and Senate Democrats introduced a bill, the 
Justice in Policing Act, to bring sweeping change to the Nation's 
police departments. The bill would bring comprehensive and enduring 
reforms--the most forceful set of changes to policing in decades.
  The House Judiciary Committee approved the legislation yesterday, and 
it will pass the full House next week.
  Here in the Senate, Republicans put forward their own proposal 
yesterday, led by the Senator from South Carolina. We welcome our 
Republican colleagues to this discussion. It is something they have 
resisted for so long. But merely writing the bill--any bill--is not 
good enough at this moment in American history. It is too low a bar.
  To simply say ``We will write any old bill, and that is good enough'' 
isn't good enough for so many people, many of whom are marching in the 
streets to get real justice.
  We don't need just any bill right now. We need a strong bill. We 
don't need some bipartisan talks. We need to save Black lives and bring 
long-overdue reforms to institutions that have resisted them. The harsh 
fact is that the legislation my Republican friends have put together is 
far too weak and will be ineffective at rooting out this problem.
  The Republican bill does nothing to reform the legal standards that 
shield police from convictions for violating Americans' constitutional 
rights. It does nothing on qualified immunity, which shields even 
police who are guilty of violating civil rights from being sued for 
civil damages. The Republican bill does nothing to encourage 
independent investigations of police departments that have patterns and 
practices that violate the Constitution. The Republican bill does 
nothing to reform the use of force standard, nothing on racial 
profiling, nothing on limiting the transfer of military equipment to 
local police departments.
  What the Republican bill does propose does not go far enough. Unlike 
the Justice in Policing Act, which bans no-knock warrants in Federal 
drug cases, the Republican bill requires data only on no-knock 
warrants. Breonna Taylor, a first responder in Louisville, KY, was 
asleep in her bed when she was killed by police who had a no-knock 
warrant. More data would not have saved Breonna Taylor's life.
  Unlike the Justice in Policing Act, which bans choke holds and other 
tactics that have killed Black Americans, the Republican bill purports 
to ban choke holds only by withholding funding from departments that 
don't voluntarily ban them themselves--only those choke holds that 
restrict air flow but not those choke holds that resist blood to flow 
to the brain--and the ban only applies unless the ``use of deadly 
force'' is required. Who determines when the use of deadly force is 
required? It is usually the police themselves, and courts defer to 
their judgment.
  I don't understand. If you want to ban choke holds and other brutal 
tactics that have killed Black Americans in police custody, why don't 
you just ban them?
  I like my friend from South Carolina, Senator Scott. I know he is 
trying to do the right thing, but this is not just about doing any 
bill. This is not about finding the lowest common denominator between 
the two parties and then moving on. This is about bringing sorely 
needed change to police departments across the country, stopping the 
killing of African Americans at the hands of police, and bringing 
accountability and transparency to police officers and departments that 
are guilty of misconduct.
  Unfortunately, the Republican bill doesn't go nearly far enough on 
prevention. It doesn't go nearly far enough on transparency and hardly 
brings even one ounce of accountability, and that matters a great deal. 
We have to get this right.
  If we pass a bill that is ineffective, the killings continue, and 
police departments resist change, and there is no accountability, the 
wound in our society will not close. It will widen.
  This is not about making an effort and dipping our toes into the 
waters of reform. This is about solving a problem that is taking the 
lives of Black Americans.
  Let me say that again because it is so important for my colleagues 
across the aisle to hear. This is not just about making an effort or 
dipping our toes into the waters of reform. This is about solving a 
problem that is taking the lives of Black Americans.
  If the bill would not have prevented the deaths of George Floyd, 
Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Michael Brown, or Eric Garner, if it 
will not stop future deaths of Black Americans at the hands of the very 
people who are meant to protect and serve, then it does not represent 
the change we need now.
  As drafted, the Republican bill does not rise to the moment. The 
Democratic bill, the Justice in Policing Act, does