Lawmakers Optimistic in Police Reform Talks

Plus: Cabinet officials will testify on Biden’s budget requests this week.

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Good morning. I’m on the road coming back from a wedding today, so this edition of Uphill is a little more abbreviated than normal. (Think of it as balancing out the behemoth 3,300-word edition we sent you on Friday.)

Police Reform Update

Negotiators say they’re making progress on a potential police reform compromise—but success is far from certain, and progressives in the House are signaling they’ll oppose anything that waters down some of the main Democratic priorities in the bill. 

This week will be critical for the development of the legislation. South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott is continuing to meet with Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, and Rep. Karen Bass, a California Democrat, to hammer out the details.

Scott sounded optimistic about the talks on Monday night, telling reporters the trio made progress over the weekend. “I think we can see the end of the tunnel,” he said. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Aylene Wright

    It's kinda telling how the negatively themed Uphill last week got almost 200 comments while this more positive one only got 10 so far. Although I suppose that may be because the news is just "they are still working on a police reform bill deal" with no actual deal with specifics. I can also imagine some Members thinking "not holding my breath, at one point there was a deal on a 1/6 Commission too".

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    1. Avatar photo
      JohnM.

      Apples & oranges. Last week's newsletter was a real tour de force by Haley--which garnered much critical praise--while this one was a more abbreviated one as we were informed.

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  2. Nicco

    Clyburn needs 10 Republican Senators more than 10 Progressive Representatives. If the bill can get 10 R Sens, it can get more than 10 R Reps to make up the difference.

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    Chris L

    Maybe I'm being naively optimistic, but does anyone else think it's reasonable that any compromise bill crafted would garner significant centrist ("centrist?" what's that??) bipartisan support and only alienate both parties' fringes? The amount of common ground here is difficult to ignore.

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    Jason Gibson

    love the link to the romney plan

    Ive been wondering where that went to

    Suddenly welfare reform isn't needed?

    Doesn't it seem that democrats do not want to give the center right ANY traction anywhere?

    Way to be a centrist and uniter mr. Biden

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  5. learnin4life

    Since the Dems are truly a big tent party, their ambitions frequently extend beyond the reach of certain party members. In the popular vernacular, Dem factions occasionally employ the process of propose legislation, find foot, squeeze trigger, shoot foot, fail to pass any legislation. I really hope that the police reform proposals now circulating don't wind up in the trash bin of shoulda, woulda, coulda legislation because 100% of the conceptual ideas don't come to fruition on a bipartisan basis. There really does appear to be a path forward that is supported by both parties. All participants need to take a win to demonstrate cooperation is possible within our currently fractured system.

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  6. Gene Wisdom

    What struck me is the quote from a letter by Democratic House members that includes the phrase "Black and brown lives". I've always been struck by the capitalization of color, especially where one is capitalized and the other is not. The striking part is the similiarity between the approach by Democratic Congressmen and the KKK and other racists who in their literature capitalized "White" but always stated "black" in lower case. A perfect example of the overt racism by some on the Left.

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    Victor Clairmont

    Hmmmmm.

    Let’s see what they bring out, but part of me is skeptical off the bat since any party that is not willing to negotiate or pass a Bill because they do not like an administration (Tim Scott’s older Bill) and now when they are in power wish to do this, makes me again remember how dastardly our political leaders can be sometimes.

    Which is doubly shocking that they even passed criminal justice reform under the last admin.

    Strange times.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Earl King

    As someone who deal with the public writ large to provide emergency services, (in my case medical) I would not do the job for one minute if I could be sued for a presume medical failure. I am positive that in every instance my actions could be picked apart by an expert witness. It is called the practice of medicine not the science of medicine. I recently had a suicide attempt by a 17 year old using Benadryl as the substance of choice. I was not familiar with the different treatment modalities. I only treat symptoms I find. In this care respiratory failure along with seizures and eventual cardiac arrest. Specifically Benadryl overdose requires different amounts of various medicines. I have never been taught nor trained on a Benadryl overdose. Fortunately the patient survived and being young was likely reason. If the family could sue me for omission of treatments with the potential I could lose my savings, my assets I would quit in heartbeat. Police are in a more precarious situation. I doubt you find someone stupid enough to become a PO as no criminal ever thinks they are ever guilty or treated fairly.

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    1. Gabej1989

      I don’t agree, I think there’s a way to balance it but your concerns make sense to me!

      How do you feel about requiring departments to be insured? Or… I think that’s the idea I’ve heard. Basically make it financially impossible for a department to keep an officer who has been the source of lawsuits.

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        Earl King

        Better than losing qualified immunity.

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        1. Gabej1989

          Better but still not good? I think that would serve the same purpose without having the same degree of potential issues. I do need to learn more about both though, my understanding is limited.

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