Judiciary panel lawmakers collide over policing
The congressional rush to reform national policing practices meets its first test Wednesday: the sharply polarized House Judiciary Committee.
Lawmakers on the notoriously fractious panel are expected to advance Democrats’ sweeping proposal, which comes as a response to the surge of public support to confront police brutality and institutional racism. Their plan would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants, lower the threshold for prosecuting officers, limit officers’ immunity from prosecution and establish a national database of police misconduct.
To Democrats, speed is of the essence — not only because of the realities of the political calendar but because after decades of failed efforts to implement sweeping reform, the national landscape has shifted and created an opening for genuine action.
“A reckoning is here for justice in policing,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues urging passage of the measure.
But that won’t happen until Republicans on the committee, led by Rep. Gym Jordan (R-Ohio), attempt to pepper the bill with amendments that will mirror a Senate Republican proposal that beefs up police reporting requirements and encourages reforms — but doesn’t mandate them.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judiciary-panel-lawmakers-collide-over-policing/ar-BB15C1Qq?li=BBnb7Kz
