‘I’m inclined to push the envelope as far as we can because we have a moment now…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) House Democrats intend to use the crisis over George Floyd’s death to push leftist reforms—starting with a criminal-justice reform package that also happens to address health care, education and environmental measures.
They also sought to cash in on the opportunity to re-open, yet again, a long rejected demand for reparations to the ancestors of black slaves.
The Congressional Black Caucus, backed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., planned to channel the public outrage sweeping the nation to move the bill through Congress, according to The Hill.
“I’m inclined to push the envelope as far as we can because we have a moment now,” CBC Chairwoman Karen Bass, D-Calif., told CBS News last week.
Bass argued that “systemic racism” within law enforcement is not the only disparity African Americans face.
Black are more likely to live in poverty, less likely to own their own homes, more likely to have higher mortality rate, and less likely to be thoroughly educated, she said.
All of this needs to be comprehensively addressed, according to Pelosi.
“We want to see this as a time where we can go forward in a very drastic way—not incrementally, but in an important way to redress those problems,” Pelosi said last week. “We’re talking a long way back and a lot of injustice in it all.”
One bill that could feature some of these liberal policies is the Justice in Policing Act, which Democrats plan to introduce this week.
The bill itself will revise the federal criminal police misconduct statute to make it easier to prosecute officers who are involved in misconduct “knowingly or with reckless disregard.”
It also would change “qualified immunity” protections for police “to enable individuals to recover damages when law enforcement officers violate their constitutional rights,” it says.
Bass said it’s likely that a reparations package will also be included in the bill—and if not in this bill, then definitely in a different piece of legislation.
“It will be voted on out of committee and on the floor before this session is over,” she said.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press