Sen. Tim Scott reportedly rejected Democrats' 'bare minimum' final offer on police reform

Karen Bass, Cory Booker, Tim Scott. — (Image credit: Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that bipartisan negotiations for a police reform bill are over after Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) turned down a final offer from Booker and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.).

"The goal from the very beginning was to get meaningful reforms that would end the policing problem we've had in this nation for generations," Booker said, adding that in the end "we couldn't do it."

One of the main sticking points was how dramatically the bill should alter qualified immunity, the practice that shields officers from lawsuits. However, other measures also became more challenging once language was introduced, with Democrats advocating for more sweeping changes and Scott's camp pushing a more incremental path, the Journal reports. Additionally, because protests against police brutality have died down compared to last summer and the nation's attention has somewhat moved away from the issue, there was reportedly less pressure to get something done.

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One source familiar with the offer from Booker and Bass told the Journal it represented the "bare minimum" of what they were willing to accept. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.