Democrats block GOP Senate's 'irrevocably flawed' police reform bill

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last updated 24 June 2020

Senate Democrats followed through on their threat to block the advancement of the GOP's police reform bill Wednesday, as the legislation fell five votes short of the 60 required to move forward.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the package "the equivalent of a fig leaf — something that provides a little cover but no real change" in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. "The harsh fact of the matter is, the bill is so deeply, fundamentally and irrevocably flawed, it cannot serve as a useful starting point for meaningful reform," he said.

Democrats believe the bill, which was championed by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), was particularly lacking in terms of holding law enforcement accountable for misconduct. For example, it didn't seek to change qualified immunity standards. That said, three members of the Democratic caucus — Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), and Angus King (I-Maine) — broke from the ranks in the hopes of at least getting the bill to the table, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who expressed his displeasure with the outcome, voted no in a procedural move to allow for a revote. Tim O'Donnell

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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.

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