Political Quotes

“this morning we have a tale of two Chambers. The House of Representatives is starting the consideration of the Justice in Policing Act, led by Senators Booker and Harris in the Senate and developed in conjunction with the Congressional Black Caucus and House Democrats. The bill represents comprehensive, strong, and enduring reform to police departments--the most forceful set of changes in decades. This morning in the Senate, Republicans have put forward a separate proposal, led by the Senator from South Carolina. We have had the bill for only a few hours and are reviewing it. But what is clear is that the Senate Republican proposal on policing does not rise to the moment. The Democratic bill has a ban on no-knock warrants in Federal drug cases, while the Republican bill only requires data on no-knock warrants. The Democratic bill has a publicly available nationwide database on misconduct so that abusive police officers who are fired can't simply go to another department somewhere else in the country and get hired. The Republican bill would keep such information almost entirely shielded from public view. The Democratic bill bans choke holds and other tactics that have killed Black Americans. The Republican bill purports to ban choke holds but only those that restrict air flow and not blood flow and provides exceptions when deadly force is needed. Who determines when deadly force is needed? Usually the police themselves, and the courts defer to their judgment.…”