House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Tuesday chided Senate Republicans for not offering "suggestions that are worthy of consideration" when it comes to dealing with the issue of police brutality and the calls to defund law enforcement agencies. According to Pelosi, Senate Republicans are "trying to get away with murder," specifically the murder of George Floyd.
"What we have put together in the House of Representatives will make a difference, make a difference in justice and policing, make a difference in reducing brutality in terms of interactions amongst police and minority communities especially," Pelosi said during an interview with CBS News.
According to the speaker, the House will "tackle" the bill on Thursday. She did, however, slam her Democratic colleagues in the Senate – Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker – for "using words" and "not taking action" to come up with a better solution to the issue.
Pelosi said she takes issue with Republicans' JUSTICE Act because of somethings that are in it, like how chokeholds are banned unless the officer's life is in grave danger.
"We're saying no chokehold. They're not saying no chokehold. It's a big difference here. What's the compromise, some chokeholds?" she asked. "I don't see what the compromise here is."
"In other words, in order for something to happen, they're going to have to face the reality of police brutality, the rally for the need for justice in policing and the recognition that there are many, many, many good people in law enforcement – but not all – and that we have to address those concerns," Pelosi explained. "And so, when they admit that and have some suggestions that are worthy of consideration, but so far they were trying to get away with murder, actually, the murder of George Floyd."
Pelosi should be ashamed of herself. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) – a black man – has worked hard on the JUSTICE Act. He's worked on this type of legislation for the last five years. He wants to see all police departments provide information to the Department of Justice about any incident resulting in serious injury or even death. As of now, according to Scott, only 40 percent of departments provide that information to the DOJ. Number two is providing better training and tactics. The third is getting to the bottom of police misconduct, which needs to be changed at the local, state and national level.
President Trump signed an EO creating a database of corrupt officers. This prevents them from bouncing between different departments and agencies. It's a way to root out the bad cops.
Saying Republicans are "trying to get away with murder" because they see both sides of the issue and are taking into account all involved is just despicable and politics as usual. People like Tim Scott are being practical. They're realizing officers need some protection in order to do their job. That doesn't mean that they're let off scot-free when they do something appalling.
This is something that will require both sides to work together on. It's something the American people are demanding. And trashing the other side won't solve anything.
Try and do better, Nancy.
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