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Monday morning, congressional Democrats announced a huge criminal justice reform bill. Democrats are hoping to seize on the momentum of widespread Black Lives Matter protests that have gripped America for two weeks.
Karen Bass, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, told reporters “The world is witnessing the birth of a new movement in our country.” Bass spoke during a press conference that unveiled the new bill. “A profession where you have the power to kill should be a profession where you have highly trained officers accountable to the public.”
The bill would have sweeping effects if passed. It would outlaw chokeholds, the maneuver that led to the deaths of Eric Garner, and, recently, George Floyd. It would also attempt to close the “qualified immunity” loophole that makes it so difficult to bring civil suits against police officers.
However, the bill wouldn’t address some of the major complaints many protesters have. Namely, it says nothing about curtailing police funding. In the past two weeks, calls to defund the police have grown louder. This movement wishes to see city budgets spent on more community enrichment, and less on police departments.
While police departments generally are funded at the state or local level, there is much federal aid involved. As such, Congress has some pull with regards to police budgets. However, democrats aren’t sure their bill could pass the Senate even if it defunded federal police aid.
Democrats control the House of Representatives, so the bill could pass there easily. However, republicans enjoy a narrow majority in the Senate, making the bill unlikely to move past the upper house. Currently, the Senate is struggling to even pass a bill that would make lynching a federal crime.
As such, few in the House of Representatives have any illusions that the Senate would authorize a sweeping police reform bill. However, the proposal of the bill in important in context. Widespread protests are having a real effect on policy.
As much of the country still struggles with the coronavirus pandemic, the protests have taken on an urgent tone. People are out of work, worrying about Humira costs and trying to make ends meet. This means that more people than ever have nothing to lose. They’re going out to protest and have their voices heard because, in the words of many protesters, enough is enough.
