The Wall Street Journal reports that lawmakers are giving up on a bipartisan police reform effort.
The legislation, sparked by nationwide protests in 2020, would have banned chokeholds and qualified immunity for law enforcement. It also would have created national accountability standards for police.
House lawmakers passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in March, but the law fizzled in the Senate. Over months of negotiations, it had been weakened to the point where it wasn't meaningful.
Mr. Booker said Democrats couldn't give any more concessions. "We had moved a long way from the George Floyd bill," he said referring to Democrats' version that had passed the House twice.
"In a year unlike any other, when the American people spoke up, marched and demanded reforms in policing, law enforcement unions and partisan politicians chose to stand on the wrong side of history," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said.
President Biden responded with a statement:
I am deeply grateful to Senator Cory Booker and Congresswoman Karen Bass for working tirelessly with the White House, the civil rights community, and leading law enforcement groups, and for their relentless efforts to negotiate a bipartisan bill in the Senate that is worthy of George Floyd's legacy. Regrettably, Senate Republicans rejected enacting modest reforms, which even the previous president had supported, while refusing to take action on key issues that many in law enforcement were willing to address.
