After months of bipartisan talks, the negotiations for police reform in the Senate have ended. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), a GOP proponent of real police reform, said that Democrats “walked away” from the opportunity for bipartisan cooperation.
“After months of making progress, I am deeply disappointed that Democrats have once again squandered a crucial opportunity to implement meaningful reform to make our neighborhoods safer and mend the tenuous relationship between law enforcement and communities of color. Crime will continue to increase while safety decreases, and more officers are going to walk away from the force because my negotiating partners walked away from the table,” Scott said in a statement.
“I made a promise to never walk away from the table because walking away means we’re giving up on the communities and officers whose lives hang in the balance.”
He added that Democrat negotiators, including Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), would not concede the push to defund the police.
“Defunding the police destabilizes our communities. Change requires resources. I offered to introduce a bill that included our areas of compromise—a bill that activists and law enforcement alike could have supported. Despite having plenty of agreement, Democrats said no because they could not let go of their push to defund our law enforcement. Once again, the Left let their misguided idea of perfect be the enemy of good, impactful legislation. Reverting to a partisan approach to score political points when American lives are at risk is just plain wrong. As they are doing on so many other issues, I fear Democrats will continue to pursue a partisan route to create problems in search of solutions. While I am frustrated that the Left abandoned such a critical issue at such a critical time, I will continue to work with anyone who is serious about finding bipartisan solutions that bring justice, fairness, and safety for the most vulnerable among us,” he continued.
Democrats showed their cards in 2020 when the caucus filibustered Scott’s original police reform legislation, refusing to debate a concern shared by members of both parties.