President Biden will host the family of George Floyd at the White House Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s murder.
But their sit-down will come amid a key disappointment from Congress, as lawmakers are expected to miss the president’s May 25 deadline to pass a federal police reform bill named in his honor.
Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have stressed the need for lawmakers to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which aims in part to combat racial discrimination and excessive force in policing.
“A measure of justice isn’t the same as equal justice,” Harris said, just hours after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering Floyd.
“This verdict brings us a step closer, and the fact is, we still have work to do,” she added. “We still must reform the system.”
Biden also praised the Chauvin verdict, saying it can be a “step forward” in the fight for racial justice.
“The guilty verdict does not bring back George,” Biden said. “But, to the family’s pain, they’re finding purpose, so George’s legacy will not be just about his death, but about what we must do in his memory.”
To that end, Biden called Floyd’s murder a “wake up call” for the country, and urged lawmakers in his first joint address to Congress last month to take action on the legislation.
“My fellow Americans, we have to come together to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, to root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system, and to enact police reform in George Floyd’s name that passed the House already,” Biden said. “We need to work together to find a consensus. But let’s get it done next month, by the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death.”
Among its provisions, the policing legislation imposes new restrictions on the use of no-knock warrants and prohibits excessive force, such as chokeholds and carotid holds, at the federal level. It would also establish a national registry of police misconduct and creates a framework to prevent racial profiling for police departments across the United States.
The Democrat-led House passed the police reform bill in March by a 220-212 vote, but it has since stalled in the Senate. One major sticking point is a so-called “qualified immunity” provision that affords most law enforcement officials sweeping protection against civil lawsuits.
Earlier this month, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said Democrats involved in the negotiations are “very determined” to end qualified immunity. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the top negotiator for Republicans, said on the same day: “I’m on the exact opposite side.”
Scott also told reporters that the two sides remain at an impasse over Section 1033, a section in the National Defense Authorization Act which allows the Department of Defense to provide excess military equipment to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
But negotiations are ongoing, with Scott telling reporters Monday that they “had good progress over the weekend, I thought. I think we can see the end of the tunnel.”
“Obviously, not this week coming. I think we’re starting to see a framework,” he clarified.
The two Senators and Rep. Karen Bass of California, the key trio of negotiators on the bill, released a statement Monday ahead of the anniversary of Floyd’s death.
“One year ago, George Floyd’s murder awakened millions of people around the world who had never before witnessed the deadly consequences of the failures in our policing system,” they wrote. “This anniversary serves as a painful reminder of why we must make meaningful change.”
“While we are still working through our differences on key issues, we continue to make progress toward a compromise and remain optimistic about the prospects of achieving that goal,” they continued.
Speaking to reporters Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki maintained that the White House has faith in the process. She also stressed Biden’s “confidence in the negotiators, who, by all accounts, are continuing to make progress.”
“They’re continuing to have good discussions, and that is a positive sign,” Psaki continued. “We are not going to slow our efforts to get this done, but we can also be transparent about the fact that it’s going to take a little bit more time — that sometimes that happens, and that’s okay.”
