Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

3 hours ago

Gaza City Officially in Famine, With Hunger Spreading, Says Global Hunger Monitor

4 hours ago

Gavin Newsom’s Redistricting Plan Is on Its Way to Voters. What You Need to Know

19 hours ago

CARB Executive Leader Rips Trump’s EPA for Seeking to Kill Proven Climate Science

22 hours ago

California Lawmakers Advance First Two Bills in Democrats’ Redistricting Plan

22 hours ago

Judge Rules Alina Habba Was Unlawfully Appointed as US Attorney in New Jersey

22 hours ago

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Latest Role Is Social Media Troll

1 day ago
Senate GOP to Restrict Police Chokeholds in Emerging Bill
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
June 15, 2020

Share

WASHINGTON — Driven by a rare urgency, Senate Republicans are poised to unveil an extensive package of policing changes that includes new restrictions on police chokeholds and other practices as President Donald Trump signals his support following the mass demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole African American Republican in the Senate, has been crafting the package set to roll out Wednesday. While it doesn’t go as far as a sweeping Democratic bill heading toward a House vote, the emerging GOP legislation shares similar provisions as Congress rushes to respond.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole African American Republican in the Senate, has been crafting the package set to roll out Wednesday. While it doesn’t go as far as a sweeping Democratic bill heading toward a House vote, the emerging GOP legislation shares similar provisions as Congress rushes to respond.
With Trump set to announce executive actions on law enforcement as soon as Tuesday, the crush of activity shows how quickly police violence and racial prejudice are transforming national party priorities.
“I think we’re going to get to a bill that actually becomes law,” Scott said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Scott said the chokehold, in particular, “is a policy whose time has come and gone.”
The GOP package is one of the most extensive proposed overhauls to policing procedures yet from Republicans, who have long aligned with Trump’s “law and order” approach but are suddenly confronted with a groundswell of public unrest in cities large and small over police violence.
Over the weekend, the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks during a routine stop by a white officer in Atlanta led to an outcry, more protests and the police chief’s swift ouster.
The Republican bill would create a national database of police use-of-force incidents, encourage police body cameras and include a long-stalled effort to make lynching a federal hate crime.
Additionally, the GOP package is expected to restrict the use of chokeholds by withholding certain federal funds to jurisdictions that continue to allow the practice, according a Senate Republican unauthorized to discuss the pending bill and granted anonymity.
Democrats have said the GOP package doesn’t go far enough in the aftermath of Floyd’s death and the outpouring of protests and Black Lives Matter demonstrations over the number of black Americans killed at the hands of law enforcement.

Democrats Signaled a Willingness to Look at the Republican Approach for Areas of Common Ground

In particular, the Republican bill does not address the issue of “qualified immunity,” as the Democrats’ bill does, which aims to enable those injured by law enforcement personnel to sue for damages. The White House has said that is a line too far. As an alternative, Scott has suggested a “decertification” process for officers involved in misconduct.
“This is not a time for lowest common denominator, watered-down reforms,” said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a co-author of the Democratic bill, on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “It’s a time to stop the problem.”
Yet Democrats signaled a willingness to look at the Republican approach for areas of common ground.
“I never call anything a nonstarter,” said Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the House’s third-ranking Democrat.
Democrats face criticism over activists’ calls to defund the police, and party leaders in Congress have distanced themselves from that approach. The defund movement describes a range of options, from dismantling departments to shifting policing resources to other community services. The Democratic bill does not go that far, but would instead provide grant money to departments that want to consider new ways of policing.
“Nobody is going to defund the police,” Clyburn said. “We can restructure the police forces, restructure, reimagine policing. That is what we are going to do.”
The House Judiciary Committee is set to consider the bill midweek, and House lawmakers are scheduled to return to Washington next week for a vote.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, whose state has been roiled by the death of Breonna Taylor after police entered her Louisville home, has signaled his interest in legislation.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider policing issues on Tuesday.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Community Shares Messages of Support for Joseph Castro While He Is in Hospice Care

DON'T MISS

Bulldogs Hope to Make Kansas Dust in the Wind as Entz, Warner Debut

DON'T MISS

Wall Street Soars as Powell Hints at Rate Cut in September

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Tariffs Could Reduce US Deficit by $4 Trillion, CBO Estimates

DON'T MISS

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

DON'T MISS

Fresno Hit-and-Run on Highway 168 Kills Motorcyclist. Suspect Remains at Large

DON'T MISS

Feds Indict Retired Fresno Judge for Sexual Assault and Obstructing an Investigation

DON'T MISS

Canada to Remove Many Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Says Source

DON'T MISS

After Joining TikTok, Trump Says He Could Extend Sale Deadline if Needed

DON'T MISS

LaVerne and Shirley Will Deliver Double the Joy for Their Adoptive Family

UP NEXT

Trump’s Tariffs Could Reduce US Deficit by $4 Trillion, CBO Estimates

UP NEXT

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

UP NEXT

Canada to Remove Many Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Says Source

UP NEXT

After Joining TikTok, Trump Says He Could Extend Sale Deadline if Needed

UP NEXT

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

UP NEXT

FBI Agents Search Ex-Trump Adviser Bolton’s Home, Source Says

UP NEXT

More Americans Applying for Refugee Status in Canada, Data Shows

UP NEXT

US Supreme Court Lets Trump Cut Diversity-Related NIH Grants

UP NEXT

US State Department Says Continuous Vetting Covers 55 Million Visa Holders

UP NEXT

Judge Rules Alina Habba Was Unlawfully Appointed as US Attorney in New Jersey

Trump’s Tariffs Could Reduce US Deficit by $4 Trillion, CBO Estimates

1 hour ago

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

1 hour ago

Fresno Hit-and-Run on Highway 168 Kills Motorcyclist. Suspect Remains at Large

2 hours ago

Feds Indict Retired Fresno Judge for Sexual Assault and Obstructing an Investigation

2 hours ago

Canada to Remove Many Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Says Source

2 hours ago

After Joining TikTok, Trump Says He Could Extend Sale Deadline if Needed

2 hours ago

LaVerne and Shirley Will Deliver Double the Joy for Their Adoptive Family

3 hours ago

Highway 99 Stop in Fresno Leads CHP to Big Marijuana Bust, DUI Arrest

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Anthony Mark Lowry

3 hours ago

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

3 hours ago

Community Shares Messages of Support for Joseph Castro While He Is in Hospice Care

Joseph Castro, former Fresno State president and chancellor of the California State University system, is receiving hospice care, his family...

15 minutes ago

Joseph Castro (center) and his family. (Special to GV Wire)
15 minutes ago

Community Shares Messages of Support for Joseph Castro While He Is in Hospice Care

PREVIEW Fresno State Bulldogs Football at Kansas Stadium
32 minutes ago

Bulldogs Hope to Make Kansas Dust in the Wind as Entz, Warner Debut

Futures-options traders work on the floor at the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., August 22, 2025. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
1 hour ago

Wall Street Soars as Powell Hints at Rate Cut in September

President Donald Trump holds a chart next to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

Trump’s Tariffs Could Reduce US Deficit by $4 Trillion, CBO Estimates

Protesters hold placards as they gather around the Los Angeles Federal Building following multiple detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 6, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole
1 hour ago

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

A 27-year-old motorcyclist was killed in a hit-and-run crash on Highway 168 in Fresno County on Thursday, August 21, 2025. (GV Wire File)
2 hours ago

Fresno Hit-and-Run on Highway 168 Kills Motorcyclist. Suspect Remains at Large

judge adolfo corona getting indicted by grand jury
2 hours ago

Feds Indict Retired Fresno Judge for Sexual Assault and Obstructing an Investigation

A drone view of Stellantis's Chrysler Windsor Assembly facility in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, February 4, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Canada to Remove Many Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Says Source

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend