WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats in the House are set to vote Thursday on a far-reaching policing overhaul, a moment heavy with emotion and symbolism after the collapse of a Senate GOP effort to a…
WASHINGTON — Democrats in the House are set to vote Thursday on a far-reaching policing overhaul, a moment heavy with emotion and symbolism after the collapse of a Senate GOP effort to address the global outcry over the deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gathered with members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Capitol steps, challenging Congress not to allow the deaths to have been in vain or the outpouring of public support for law enforcement changes to go unmatched. Yet even with passage, the prospects for changes are dim, for now.
“Exactly one month ago, George Floyd spoke his final words — ‘I can’t breathe’ — and changed the course of history,” Pelosi said.
She said the Senate faces a choice “to honor George Floyd’s life or to do nothing.”
The Thursday evening vote sends a signal with the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, perhaps the most ambitious proposed changes to police procedures and accountability in decades. Backed by the nation’s leading civil rights groups, it seeks to match the moment of street-filled demonstrations. It has almost zero chance of becoming law.
On the eve of the vote, President Donald Trump’s administration signaled he would veto the bill. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has also said it would not pass the Republican-held chamber.
After the GOP policing bill stalled Wednesday, blocked by Democrats, Trump shrugged.
“If nothing happens with it, it’s one of those things,” Trump said. “We have different philosophies.”
Congress is now at a familiar impasse despite protests outside their door and polling that shows Americans overwhelmingly want changes after the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others in interactions with law enforcement. The two parties are instead appealing to voters ahead of the fall election, which will determine control of the House, Senate and White House.
