House members push Senate to pass George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

HOUSTON - Members of Congress from Houston are now putting the pressure on the Senate to pass a bill that would work to hold police more accountable and help end racial profiling. It’s called the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020.

The act was successfully passed in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, but the story is different in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Democratic members of Congress from Houston and Las Vegas spoke on a Zoom call with reporters Tuesday about why they’d like to see the bill become law ASAP.

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“This legislation which we have passed already in the House is the change that we so desperately need,” said Rep. Steven Horsford from Nevada.

Authors of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 say the new bill aims at establishing a national standard when it comes to how police departments operate. The bill would also mandate data collection on police encounters: think, body cameras on every officer in America.

“I believe that body cameras can give us the evidence that can give us the opportunity to take cases to court and have justice done,” said Rep. Al Green from Texas. “If not but for the…camera…with George Floyd, I don’t know that we would be talking about his case.”

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The bill is named after Houston’s own George Floyd. Members of Congress are using his death and the protests that followed, as well as the deaths of others at the hands of police as examples of why they believe this bill needs to pass quickly.

“We wish for peaceful protest, and that is why in the midst of the murder of George Floyd and the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and Mr. Brooks in Atlanta and many others, the Congressional Black Caucus led by Chairwoman Karen Bass and many of us who were authors of the legislation embracing all of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus—each being an original co-sponsor—quickly moved to put forth this legislation,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas.

The bill would also place a federal investment in community-based policing programs and establish independent prosecutors for police excessive force cases. It was passed by the House on June 25 but needs to be passed by the Senate then signed off by the president to become law.

“To our dismay, the United States Senate majority refused to take this bill in a responsible and serious manner, and we certainly acknowledge attempted work, but we also acknowledge that that work did not answer the issues and the needs of our constituents and protesters across America,” said Jackson Lee.

“The Senate thwarting this effort literally is causing lives, in my opinion, to be at risk,” said Green.

“Like many other bills that have passed, Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans have chosen not to take up the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” said Horsford. “It is shameful. It is time that they do their job. As a black, as a father of three children: two young black boys and a black young girl, I know we must find common ground and enact real reforms across this country.”

Republicans say the bill was written without any GOP input.