US senators on Wednesday, September 22 ended negotiations on a police reform project initiated after the death of African-American George Floyd, a decision that risks being fatal to the text and represents a hard setback for Joe Biden.
Despite months of discussions, "
we have not been able to agree on a strategy,
" Democratic Senator Cory Booker told reporters, announcing the end of negotiations with his Republican colleagues.
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The Democratic president, elected with the support of black voters and who had made this reform one of his priorities, blamed the failure of the negotiations on the Republicans.
“
Regrettably, the Republican senators rejected modest reforms, which even the former president (Donald Trump, editor's note) had supported, while refusing to act on key points that even the police were ready to be discussed,
”he criticized in a statement.
"
Deep disappointment
"
The Republicans returned the ball to him.
"
After months of progress, I am very disappointed that Democrats have wasted this opportunity to make our neighborhoods safer and improve relations between law enforcement and communities of color,
" said Senator Tim Scott .
Beyond these passes, bitterness was the order of the day among the supporters of the reforms.
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"
We express our deep disappointment at the inability of Senate leaders to find a reasonable solution to federal police reform,
" said lawyer Ben Crump, who represents the Floyd family and many victims of police violence. "
After an unprecedented year (...), the police unions and partisan politicians have chosen to stand on the wrong side of history
", ruled, bitterly, the president of the civil rights organization NAACP Derrick Johnson.
The murder of George Floyd, suffocated by a white police officer on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, had sparked a huge mobilization across the United States against racism and police violence.
In response, the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats, adopted in March a police reform project named after the black forty-something, which attacked in particular the broad judicial immunity enjoyed by agents.
Choke sockets
The text also provided for prohibiting strangulation, limiting transfers of military equipment to law enforcement, creating a national register of police officers dismissed for abuse, etc. But the Democrats had to convince a dozen elected Republicans to pass the obstacle of the Senate. Anxious not to appear as the gravediggers of a reform eagerly awaited by the African-American minority, the Republicans had entrusted their only black elected representative of the Senate, Tim Scott, with the task of negotiating a consensual text.
On several occasions, President Joe Biden had called on elected officials to show "
courage
" to succeed.
Despite their failures, he hoped "
one day to sign an ambitious and comprehensive reform of the police which honors the name and memory of George Floyd
".
In the meantime, "
the White House will continue its consultations
" and reflect on what its government can do by decree.
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