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After months of waiting, Sen. Cory Booker announced Wednesday (September 22) that Senate lawmakers failed to reach a deal on the police reform bill named after George Floyd.
"The time has come to explore all other options to achieve meaningful and common sense policing reform," Booker told reports after placing a call to Republican Sen. Tim Scott to say bipartisan negotiations on the bill were over.
"We made it clear from the beginning of our negotiations that a bill must ensure true accountability, transparency, and the policing standards necessary to bring an end to horrific incidents of violence Americans are routinely seeing –– like the murder of George Floyd," Booker said in a statement.
"After months of exhausting every possible pathway to a bipartisan deal, it remains out of reach right now," Booker added. The House passed the bill earlier this year.
Qualified immunity –– the legal safety net that protects individual officers from being personally liable for on-the-job incidents –– was a hot button issue for Senate lawmakers.
Scott accused Democrats of wanting to defund the police and disapproved of their proposal which also included criminalizing excessive use-of-force and no-knock warrants. Democrats also called for mental health resources for police officers and the establishment of a database to track police misconduct across states.
President Joe Biden might take executive action on the issue, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
"Republicans rejected reforms that even the previous president had supported and refuse to engage on key issues that many law enforcement, were willing to address and so we're disappointed. The president is disappointed," Psaki said.
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