Democrats reject GOP Senate police reform bill, block Republicans amendments on House plan

Senate Democrats officially rejected Republicans’ police reform bill, which needed 60 votes to advance, in a 55-45 vote on Wednesday.

In a letter earlier this week, Democrats voiced objection and prevented debate or a vote, blocking any amendments.

In an interview on “Fox & Friends” Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said Thursday that this was “race politics.”

“In the House bill right now they refused any Republican amendments. In our legislation, I offered five because they said they needed five. I offered 20 because they said 20. I offered a manager’s amendment which basically means we can rewrite the parts of the bill that you want to. They said no. They had no desire to actually solve this issue before the election,” Scott says, who led the charge to get the bill moved forward.

“So, when you go piece by piece, with the only thing that you can conclude is [that] it wasn’t what we were talking about. It was who was talking,” he remarked.

“And, not just me, Tim Scott, but who was talking was the Republican Party saying to minority communities, to underserved communities, to liberal-controlled communities like Atlanta and Minneapolis, Cleveland…We hear you. We see you. Here are reforms.’”

According to Scott, Democrats’ obstinance and inability to act will also be the reasons why there is “blood on their hands.”

“This bill is not salvageable and we need bipartisan talks to get to a constructive starting point,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker said in the letter.
Only Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Doug Jones (D-AL), and Angus King (I-ME) crossed party lines to vote for the bill to move ahead for debate.
In the House, the Democrats moved forward  as the Judiciary Committee approved Democrats’ police reform bill along party lines last week, setting up the entire chamber is poised to vote on its legislation this Thursday, and it will likely pass.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asserted in an interview Tuesday that Republicans are “trying to get away with murder, actually — the murder of George Floyd” — marking a dramatic escalation in rhetoric.
Pelosi doubled down on the statement, blocking any amendments to the House bill.

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