The national response to the police killing of George Floyd began transitioning from America’s streets to the halls of Congress on Wednesday, as lawmakers held their first hearing on a Democratic policing reform proposal and Republicans promised soon to release legislation of their own.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing that at times grew contentious, the two parties clashed over fundamental issues ranging from the appropriate role of police in society to whether systemic racism exists within American law enforcement.
Philonise Floyd, who testified about the pain he felt while he watched the video of his brother’s death as an officer’s knee pinned his neck for nearly nine minutes, pleaded with lawmakers to make far-reaching changes.
“I couldn’t take care of George the day he was killed, but maybe by speaking with you today, I can help make sure that his death isn’t in vain,” he said, a day after attending his brother’s funeral in Houston. “This is 2020. Enough is enough. The people marching in the streets are telling you enough is enough.”
While demonstrations against police brutality are continuing across the country, Floyd’s funeral on Tuesday and the congressional hearing on Wednesday potentially signify a shift from the sweeping and at times fiery nationwide protests to the difficult work of rewriting the laws that govern policing and race.
Less than five months before an election, that work faces a gantlet of political and ideological obstacles, with Democrats and Republicans operating against a backdrop of partisan gridlock. The question now is whether the passion and anger reflected in the nationwide surge of protests is enough to cut through Washington’s perpetual logjam.
During the hearing, Republicans attacked Democrats over the “defund the police” slogan adopted by some activists and embraced by some cities in recent days. Democrats accused Republicans of trying to distract Americans and ignoring systemic racism and police brutality.
Still, between the occasional bouts of rancor, the two sides voiced support for some of the same measures, including the creation of a national database to track police misconduct.
As Congress deliberated, organizations, corporations and local leaders were moving at a faster pace, from a decision by NASCAR on Wednesday to ban displays of the Confederate flag at its events to a move by cities to take down symbols that honor Confederate generals and slave traders.
President Trump, who has called himself an “ally” of peaceful protesters while also urging governors to “dominate” demonstrators with military force, plans to unveil his own policing proposals soon, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday.
“The president has spent the last 10 days quietly and diligently working on proposals to address the issues that the protesters have raised across the country — legitimate issues,” she told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “And that body of work, I’m told, is reaching its final edits, and we hope to produce it for you in the coming days.”
At the same briefing, McEnany read a tweet from the president expressing opposition to efforts to rename U.S. military bases that honor Confederate generals.
“These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom,” Trump tweeted about the bases, named after generals whose defeat in the Civil War paved the way for the abolishment of slavery.
Trump, who met with black conservative leaders at the White House on Wednesday, plans to attend a roundtable on race relations and policing in Dallas on Thursday.
Republicans, led by Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate’s lone black Republican, are also working on a legislative proposal. Some Republicans expressed a reluctance to impose new mandates on local police departments, favoring instead an approach that ties federal dollars to specific policies.
Scott’s plan would include training for officers, such as de-escalation and perhaps bias training, and a national police commission that would help the government determine best practices for agencies nationwide. The package, which Republicans hope to release as soon as this week, will also include a bill Scott first sponsored in 2015 requiring states to maintain a database anytime a police officer is involved in the fatal shooting of a civilian or risk losing federal funds.
One proposal with some bipartisan support would change “qualified immunity,” a legal doctrine that shields officers from lawsuits, by lowering the bar for plaintiffs to sue officers for alleged civil rights violations. But McEnany called such a change a “non-starter.”
Democrats, who control the House and have more than 200 co-sponsors for their bill, have said they expect robust debate over their proposal, potentially culminating in a floor vote by the end of the month. The bill would, among other things, ban chokeholds and prohibit certain no-knock warrants.
But activists, aware of the gridlock that has sunk bipartisan agreements on issues from gun control to immigration, are not waiting for change to come from Washington. In addition to giant demonstrations, Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer on May 25 has already sparked action by cities, corporations and organizations.
During Floyd’s memorial service on Tuesday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) said he would sign an executive order banning the use of chokeholds and requiring police to exhaust all alternatives before shooting people.
Mayors of cities including New York and Los Angeles have expressed support for cutting police budgets and reallocating the funds to social services. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D) said Wednesday that he would meet with police “to talk about their budget” and raised the prospect of “redirecting some of the money.”
In Minneapolis, Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced planned reforms aimed at addressing officer misconduct, including an immediate withdrawal from ongoing contract negotiations with the local police union. That would allow the city to pursue rules that making it easier to terminate bad police, he said.
In his first public remarks since a majority of the Minneapolis City Council announced support for the elimination of the police department, Arradondo echoed other local officials who complain that the Minneapolis Police Federation, which represents the city’s 800 rank-and-file officers, has blocked reform in a department that has long been plagued by charges of racism and use of excessive force.
“What our city needs now more than ever is a pathway and a plan that provides hope, reassurance and actionable movements toward reform,” Arradondo said.
Nine of the 12 members of the Minneapolis City Council announced over the weekend that they would “begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department” but have not presented a plan for how to do it. Mayor Jacob Frey has repeatedly said he does not support abolishing or defunding the police, saying Wednesday that he wants “deep structural reform” instead.
Corporations are also continuing to take action. HBO Max has temporarily pulled the Civil War epic “Gone With the Wind” from its streaming service, citing the film’s depiction of ethnic and racist prejudices.
“These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Cops,” the long-running reality show that glorified policing, was canceled by Paramount Network.
Activists in states across the country — and in Europe — continued to push for the removal of statues, monuments and symbols that honor slaveholders and other racist figures from past centuries.
The targets are spreading beyond the Civil War. Statues of Christopher Columbus were torn down in St. Paul, Minn., and Richmond. Another was beheaded in Boston. Walsh said Wednesday that the damaged statue in Boston’s North End would be removed and placed in storage.
Several cities across Britain are reviewing the “appropriateness” of their statues and monuments. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a review of all of the statues and monuments across the British capital, as well as street names. Those with links to slavery, he said, “should be taken down.”
NASCAR’s decision to prohibit the display of Confederate flags at all events and properties came two days after Bubba Wallace, the only black driver in NASCAR’s top-flight Cup Series, called for such a move. NASCAR had previously banned the use of the Confederate flag on its cars and licensed merchandise.
The flag’s presence, a staple at some NASCAR events, “runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry,” NASCAR said in a statement.
A different message emerged from the White House, where Trump forcefully defended the symbols honoring Confederate generals, saying he would “not even consider” growing calls to rename U.S. military bases that honor Confederate generals. “Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with,” he tweeted.
Later Wednesday, Trump announced that he would hold his first campaign rally in months on June 19 in Tulsa.
“We’ve had a tremendous run at rallies,” Trump said.
Seung-Min Kim, Paul Kane, Brittany Shammas, Felicia Sonmez and John Wagner contributed to this report.
