US Senate Republicans plan their own police reform effort

US Senate Republicans say they are working on their own legislation relating to police reform and social injustice following the death in custody of African American George Floyd last month.

This comes a day after the Democrats unveiled an expansive reform package aimed at cracking down on police brutality and recording patterns of misuse of force in the US.

The legislation was led by the Congressional Black Caucus, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Congress “cannot settle for anything less than transformative structural change.”

Also, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass said, “The world is witnessing the birth of a new movement in our country.”

Their legislation calls for a ban on chokeholds and the creation of a National Police Misconduct Registry “to prevent problem officers from changing jurisdictions to avoid accountability.” The bill also incentivizes states and localities to make racial bias training mandatory and to teach officers about their “duty to intervene.”

The package was likely to face strong resistance from Republicans, police unions and local officials who do not want Washington to intervene in their policy making.

On Tuesday, GOP leaders said they did not support the Democrats’ legislation, noting they were working on a narrower alternative.

At the same time, Republicans are also careful not to collide with President Donald Trump, who is cheering the nation’s police forces while condemning anti-racism protesters across the country.

“We believe in the ability to protest … as an American, to have a voice,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a key Trump ally, said Tuesday in a video posted on Twitter. “We also believe that we don’t judge people by the color of their skin or the uniform that they wear. And that’s the difference that sets us apart from others.”

Although McCarthy has not so far identified any specific provisions to be included in the GOP legislation, he told The Los Angeles Times there were three potential areas of agreement with Democrats.

Those include improving officer training by linking training standards to federal funding, requiring more transparency about accusations of officer misconduct and making it easier to expel bad officers.

Meanwhile, Republicans, who are accusing Democrats of pushing to defund police departments across the country, introduced a resolution on Tuesday to formally oppose such plan.

Spearheaded by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the resolution would put the Senate on record opposing the efforts if passed.

The death of Floyd, 46, in custody ignited global protests against police brutality and racism. He died on May 25 as a white Minneapolis officer pressed a knee into his neck for almost nine minutes.