Republicans prove they never really wanted police reform. They're on the wrong side of history.
Opinion by Eugene Robinson
After George Floyd was murdered and the nation exploded in outrage, Republicans made a show of pretending to be committed to meaningful police reform. Some of us suspected this was a gush of crocodile tears. This week, regrettably, proved we were right.
The announcement Wednesday that attempts to craft a bipartisan reform bill had failed, following more than a year of talks, came as no surprise. The nation may indeed be ready for a genuine reckoning on race and policing, but the GOP under the leadership of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and the malign influence of former president Donald Trump clearly is not.
The Republicans chose as their lead negotiator Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), the only African American GOP senator. Scott has spoken with some eloquence about his own mistreatment by police. At times Ive entertained the possibility that he might actually be sincere in wanting to get a reform bill passed. The cynical and misleading statement he released Wednesday, however, disabused me of any such notion.
Despite having plenty of agreement, Democrats said no because they could not let go of their push to defund our law enforcement, Scott claimed. That is a lie.
As the Democrats chief negotiator, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), has made abundantly clear to the point of hamming it up on the Senate floor Democrats are not seeking to defund the police, despite what Fox News may be telling its viewers. Last month, in passing a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, Senate Democrats voted unanimously for a Republican amendment to slash federal funds for any municipality that defunds its police department. This is not a real issue, and Scott knows it.
Quite real, by contrast, is McConnells apparent decision to deny President Biden and the Democrats anything they can characterize as a win. He is even willing to irresponsibly withhold GOP votes from any measure that raises the debt ceiling which must be done, McConnell well knows, to avert economic calamity. If Republicans would go that far to hamstring the Biden administration, even keeping in mind the unpopularity of previous shutdowns, it is no surprise that they would also say no to police reform.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/23/republicans-prove-they-never-really-wanted-police-reform-theyre-wrong-side-history/