Congressional Black Caucus pushes Biden to restart police reform talks
Police reform negotiations stalled in the 117th Congress over proposals to strip qualified immunity from officers
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Your support makes all the difference.Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have asked President Joe Biden for a meeting to press him on restarting stalled talks on police reform legislation, in the wake of the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers.
Representative Steven Horsford, the Nevada congressman who serves as chair of the CBC, said in a statement on Sunday that the caucus is asking for a sit-down with Mr Biden “to push for negotiations on much needed national reforms to our justice system - specifically, the actions and conduct of our law enforcement”.
Mr Horsford said Mr Nichols’ death, which was captured on disturbing video showing him being beaten and kicked by a group of officers who are now facing murder charges, is “a grim reminder that we still have a long way to go in solving systemic police violence in America”.
"No one in our nation should fear interacting with the police officers who serve our diverse communities, large and small. We all want to be safe,” he said.
He added that the CBC is calling on its House and Senate colleagues to “jumpstart negotiations now and work with us to address the public health epidemic of police violence that disproportionately affects many of our communities”.
During the 117th Congress, the House passed multiple police reform bills, including the Justice in Policing Act named for George Floyd, the Minneapolis man whose videotaped murder by police officers sparked nationwide protests and calls for reform during the summer of 2020.
But no police reform bill made it past the Senate due to the upper chamber’s 60-vote threshold for most legislation. Negotiations between two of the chamber’s three Black senators — Republican Tim Scott and Democrat Cory Booker — broke down over proposals to strip police officers of immunity from lawsuits in misconduct cases.
The White House did not immediately respond to a query from The Independent on whether Mr Biden would meet with the CBC.
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