What is clear, is that the Senate Republican proposal on not rise to the moment. The democratic bill has been on in federal law cases where the republican built only requires data a no knock warrants. Democratic bill has a publicly available nationwide database on this conduct. So that Abusive Police officers who were fired cannot simply go to another department some rest in the country and get hired. The republican been moved bill we keep it almost entirely shielded from public view. The democratic bill benson took hold and tactics that have killed black americans. The republican bills only those that restrict the airflow in a blood flow pretty provide exceptions when deadly force is needed. Who determines when deadly force is needed to pretty usually the police themselves. In the course different in their judgment for the republican bill is silent on racial profiling military local Police Department sprinted and perhaps the greatest flaw in the republican proposal is that it is missing real meaningful accountability of individual officers misconduct. No reforms to qualified immunity or pattern and practice investigations. This is critically important. Without accountability measures, were nearly exhorting the Police Department to do h better, crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. Real change comes with accountability. As drafted the republican bill dozens provided. So we have a tale of two chambers, a glaring contrast between strong comprehensive democratic bill in the house in a much narrower much less effective republican bill in the senate. Now i am glad that leader mcconnell has listened to our demands to bring the Police Reform bill to the floor before july 4th. Hi ive been asking him to do this for three weeks. And he is finally exceeded rated im glad republicans have finally joined the debate and put a proposal forward to. After much pressure from the public. But any final product must be strong in this make real and lasting changes. I would note that before we even get to a Police Reform proposal, the republican leader was the Circuit Court judge next week same like were doing Police Reform, cory wilson, with a record of hostility towards the Voting Rights. How many who advocated faceless claims of voter fraud and cause concern over Voter Suppression and discrimination. He called. Poppycock. This is twofaced approach pretty we are saying on the one hand, they say lets do something on Police Informant on hunted judges the who come in exactly the opposite place and take away Voting Rights and r other things that affect African Americans inns particular, in particular for africanamericans. The senate is a place we can only succeed if you convince the substantial majority of the chamber that you have good legislation. We expect our republican colleagues to work with us. To make significant improvements. To any legislation in order for it to pass. Owe take this very seriously. As we continue to review the republican legislation, i will be talking to my caucus about the best way to strengthen it. This bill will need dramatic improvement. Maybe clear, this is not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. This is about m makingg ineffece the enemy of the effective. Let me repeat that. This is not about letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. This is about replacing what is ineffective with what is effective and we must have effective change. The question is whether legislation will bring back or bring the change we so desperately need are felt to make those necessary changes. Failed to stop black americans from dying they has a place. The question is will it to work. The republican bill has a long way to goth to meet this moment. Is been ali lot of talk from the republican leader about getting to the real challenge of the bill. Frankly thats whether Senate Republicans will be able to step up to the plate and rise to the moment and vote for bill that actually solves the problem. The democrats, going to try to get them there. Itshi important that we get ths right. The vast majority of americans who vote or both Political Parties support the political reforms. More than 75 percent want them to more easily sue Police Departments for damages. More than 90 percentia on chuckd and racial profiling, more than 90 percent supporting dependent investigations of Police Departments that show patterns of misconduct. More than 90 percent federal perform at the place where body cameras. Theres no reason to scribbler changes in the margins when nibbling around the edges of this large and difficult and persistent problem. The moment calls for bold action in the American People are behind it. Now yesterday, i feel that good look at what windowdressing looks like and what we must all strive to avoid. The president celebrated an executive order that supposedlyu was about Police Reform. But in reality was much of they incentives to such as the Police Department in change on their own. The man on chokehold was not bad at all. Even though the databases proposed by the executive order are voluntary, not mandatory. Befitting the seriousness of the topic, the president spent the majority of his press conference demonizing peaceful protesters. During unjustified grievances on past administrations. And suggesting that the same scientific expertise led to the aids vaccine will lead to this vaccine. And of course theres no vaccine. Now, this was the president conference on Police Reform. Unbelievable. But he said as the serious moment. We have to do much better job here in congress. The president isnt going to lead on these issues. Is not going to engage with legislation or proposed effective performs. Hes too busy threatening to sue news organizations about unflattering polls. With congress to take up and glad we will be turning to the subject next week. The Muscle Center site achieving rail and strong effective reforms to Police Departments ia america. Thank you. There are moments in history where you think this is going to make a difference. One of them was in a first grade classroom in connecticut. A person walked intoas that classroom several years ago and open fired helen first grade students. Six years of age, seven years of age of the teachers and the assistance. They were killed at their desks at sandy hook. I thought that would make a difference. I thought it would be a National Conversation about gun safety. The memory of those beautiful little children who died so senselessly. Because ael person antigun gave them the power to kill them in mass. It didnt happen. And then i thought went gunman and hotel in las vegas, opened fired and again that he converted into an automatic weapon. And he killed those concertgoers at the countrywestern concert. Just a shot at them at random. I thought now that will make a difference. That is the moment when we can sit down and t honestly talk abt the gun safety in america. It was so graphic grade and it was so horrible. The lease we could come together for bipartisan conversation about making america a safer place for the first graders in connecticut and concertgoers in the bed and for of the many other gun and tragedies which we have had in america. It didntn. Happen. President promised to do something. He didnt. What happened in the United States senate in terms of addressing this issue, nothing. Not even an effort to keep guns out of the hands of people who have no business owning them. Convicted felons and people who are mentally unstable. The types of guns under for sale in the United States go far behind any need for sport hunting or many cases even in selfdefense. And its we couldnt even open the conversation on gun safety rated in light of those horrible tragedies. And then several weeks ago, a patrolman in minneapolis put his knee on theex neck of george floyd. In america changed. You see that video, which we have all seen over and over again, was so graphic, so real, so personal, it just not could escape it. There was this policeman, and eight minutes and 46 seconds, killing george floyd and what was the charge that he was being accused of . Perhaps passing phony 20dollar bill. Twentydollar bill. I think the image still sticks with most of us, and the eight minutes and 46 seconds as george floydie died, all the people begging the policeman to stop. Imploring him, please floyd was crying out that i cant breathe. Mentioning his mothers name and those desperate final moments of his life. In the patrolman stared into the video camera. With this cold hard eyes. We cannot escape the reality of the video moment and the impact that it has had on americans. And beyond. George floyd image and name are now the subject of rallies not just across america but around the world. In my own home state of illinois it is understandable. In cities like chicago, diverse populations, africanamericans, who know what it is like to be the object of Racial Discrimination when it comes toa Law Enforcement. But what is amazed me and my home state and many other places for my colleagues, is this just not a conversation in the big cities of america. This last sunday afternoon at 4 00 oclock, when new jersey illinois. Wh from black lives matter really. What unlikely location. I dont know how many africanamerican families live there but there arent many. It did not stop three to 400 people from gathering on the Courthouse Lawn to make it clear they want to see things changed when it came to placing in america. And change the most. I want to salute my colleagues particularly the senators booker and harris. They came together a plan bill in place the black caucus, the congresswoman from california karen bass. The proposal that is been introduced now in the house and in the senate. Im proud to be a cosponsor. It is comprehensive that it takes into consideration the reality. These moments of historic opportunity come along veryie solemn. And when they come, we need to seize them, to make a difference in this great nation. Lets not be halfhearted. This be committed tofe doing things that make a difference. And that means bipartisan effort. Tim scott is my friend. Republican senator on the state of set of carolina, i like him. I respect him. He has done and said things which i think made a real impact on this nation. His observations as an africanamerican senator from South Carolina and what he is going through. Not just estate but in his life and even in washington dc. Touched my heart. I know they are genuine and so is he. When he was chosen on the republican side to lead the effort, to come up with some way of bringing justice to placing. I thought that was a good choice and i still do. Not to start with conversation. But its an unusual and awkward start. My colleagues senator booker and harris put the Legislature Justice and policing on the floor. And describesor in detail over e last several days that it has been there. Its been there for those who supported as i do and for those who are critical. Were obviously looking at this from a lot of perspectives pretty yesterday the Senate JudiciaryCommittee Held lengthy hearing on Police Misconduct and there were references throughout to the volkerto harris bill. Senator scotts bill, we sought just a few hours ago. And senator mcconnell came to the floor earlier this and were moving the spill. There will be the next item oft business. Im glad the center mcconnell now feels a sense of urgency when it comes to reforming policing. W now is the moment for us to Work Together to come up with a bipartisan bill they can pass the United States senate. Let us not miss this opportunity, this historic moment to do something that will make a difference. How many times, have any commissions, how many agencies, ehow many experts of reports on racism and lawenforcement in america. Scores of them. Going back to the 1960s, former governor of illinois, thats long ago. Sixty years ago was considering the same issues many of the same issues were considering today. Hearings yesterday brian some talented people, expert people. To talk to us in the Senate Judiciary committee about this measure. This challenge that we face. Iscommunity leaders and civil rights activists, experts on the subject. I think senator granholm, and chairman of the republican side blueberry that hearings are important we should intending them. They are never enough. We need to do something that the senate rarely if ever does. We need to legislate. We have to do it in the assets that was established in the senate generations ago. Bringing this matter to the floor. For amendment and debate. Understand the numbers in the senate. As a weapon on the democratic side. I think my skill that is necessary to succeed is to be able to come here. I learned that very early in my senate career. But we know the numbers really hard for thend 47 democrats and3 republicans. So if you needed 60 votes, for most of the important procedural questions in any debate, and must be bipartisan. It is going to be bipartisan, it means that people have to sit down and be willing to listen to one another. Willing to compromise. I think we can do that. I have seen it done. I can remember two years ago. When the Senate Passed the First Step Act. I started on this mission ten years ago. After the passage of the effort of the drug crimes bill in the lehouse of representatives over0 years ago, it was clear that bill was fatally flawed. That law resulted in hud just outcomes. As well as an effectiveness when it came to finding drugs. Anna started ten years ago to try and change into. Change in the spirit between cocaine, and sentencing guidelines. I managed to get some part of the done but then when on a bigger issue, of the mandatory minimum sentencing which was involved in this as well, i run into a blockade under the name of Chuck Grassley. Chuck senior senator from the i state of iowa not see on ohio with my a personal. Generalized i was nowhere with my bill without him. He was chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee. So we sat down and we spent a year, a year and we came up with a bill that we both agreed on. It was not what i wanted. Was not my original bill by any means. It wasnt what Chuck Grassley wanted but we found a good bill called the First Step Act. He became the lead sponsor pretty grassley, dermot bipartisan bill. House passed the senate signed by this president of the United States, donald trump. Who wouldve guessed that he wouldid signed a bill on the criminal Justice Reform but he didnt. Andhe it continues to this day. I guess the lesson or their is of the right people can sit down with the right goal in mind, we can achieve an important victory for the American People. I understand now having been to these rallies of black lives matter, how determined and desperate people are across United States to see us change when it comes to racism in Law Enforcement. Theyre desperate primarily, in our younger populations. It is interesting. Even the largest rallies are being led by high school students. Her c brain together hundreds ad in some cases thousands of people to peacefully demonstrate on behalf of justice. In Law Enforcement. The message is pretty clear. They do not want to grow up and raise families in the shadow of racism. We have fought this issue in america for over 400 years. That is h how long its been sie slavery came to our shores. And racism was part of the slavery was part ofn it still very much alive inid america producing and video after video. These are people are telling us once and for all, changes, you are supposed to be in charge grownups. If you are supposed to have the authority. So what we say in the democratic side is we cannot moment. The singular opportunity. Lets do something that is a token, halfhearted approach. Lets focus instead on making a change that will make a difference in the future of america. Take a look at w the bill that e put together to justice and policing act, again i wanted to select centers booker and harris. We established standards for Police Misconduct under the law. We talkde about qualified immuny reform. Allow me to say a word about this. That was one thing that tim scott said on sunday, was a major Sticking Point on the democrat are on the republican side. We discussed it yesterday the Senate Judiciary hearing. What is the main, means that if a policeman, is guilty of misconduct, discriminatory misconduct against the person, they can be liable for civil damages. Obvious case, somebody was shot and killed as a believe that the policeman was guilty in misconduct. In process. That placement can be found guilty in the court liable for civil damages to the family. Much the same as wrongful death and personal injury. But the problem is that the courts have taken this qualified immunity and he basically said that if you cannot find an identical pattern, for that policemans misconduct, you can pursue the civil recovery of damages for the family that lost the breadwinner for example. The argument for that decision has been made by some republicans that even if a patrolman or a policeman is done something terribly wrong, shouldnt take their home awayak from them to compensate the victims family. So the republicans have said we dont want to change that. Lets move from that debate to the real world. In a note just a little bit about that. Sheriff and downstate county and illinois, who was sued many years ago and accused of misconduct for imprisoning and mistreating prisoners in his county jail. When he was sued in court, much the same as the qualified immunity situation which i described earlier, he was defended in this court pretty who defended thatcher for his misconduct and potential damages that he owed to his victims. I did. I didnt do it as a u. S. Attorney forte states attorney r any official public capacity. I didnt representing an insurance company. They employed the sheriff or considered him a countysh emploe for their purposes. And the insurance policy that some of the wrongdoing by the county employees on the Insurance Committee will pay whatever is owed. I represented the insurance company. We would forward with case. One of getting to is that sheriff was not going to loses omars car wasar motorcycle. It wasbo all about a lawsuit beg brought in court for that sheriffs responsibility in creating a loss to plaintiff that merited damages for the court or jury. So this argument that we cannot hold policeman responsible for their misconduct on the civil basis for damages, overlooks the obvious. Ninetynine to 100 percent of any verdict ever paid out, are paid out not by the individual Law Enforcement official but usually by the insurance company. Insurance company and indemnifies the defendant. In other words it takes on responsibility of defending them and paying out any verdict is found or any settlement that is reached. Why would we want to go ahead and allow this kind of civil recovery. Becauseat it is a Lesson Learned to that county. When it comes to the conduct and training and hiring of individuals. If they know that certain things are going to result in a liability, even through their insurance company, and i are insurance purposes as a result, they will think twice about it for they breed human nature. The exact opposite is true if the republicans have ran dont touch qualified immunity, that effective created a wall, defense call for any potential defendant was in Law Enforcement. From civil liability. They have taken away the incentive from their employer for the department to improve the way they administer justice. I would think it is pretty obvious that if wehe want that right now come here, there should be a price to be paid for wrongdoing and there certainly should be compensation for victims family rid so i dont understand the resistance on the republican side, we need to talk we cannot move forward on this issue of Police Responsibility and say theres a whole area of immunity when it comes to place being sued for civil damages and court. We also need pattern and practice investigation pretty comes a moment, when the department of Justice Needs to take the low at local Police Department. The shooting of mcdonald, in the city of chicago. That was an event which still has an impact on the people who livedi there. I joined with the attorney general and asking the department of justice to investigate that chicago Police Department after that shooting. It wasnt a popular position both of them is the right thing to do. We will be better forage for the city of chicago will make changes that need to be made there are more. The need to be made in the future. But extending and advancing pattern of practice investigations by the department of justice, is long overdue rated under the obama administration, over 20 of these investigations took place across america. Under the trump administration, one. It is time for the department of justice to do its job. That is part of what we are signing up to do. We also have Law Enforcement integrity act included, the booker harrisonville. Police departments like different standards to ensure best practices about accountability on the attorney general and department of hestice to remove them in the right direction of training and retraining. When it comes to reducing the use of force. Inak reducing the killings that are taken place that are unnecessary. Need to establish a national Police Misconduct registry. So the no police who loses his or her job because of misconduct can go to some nearby jurisdiction or state and escape the scrutiny of taking the review of the history they have is members of the Police Department. We need to require states to report to the justice department, and answer against Law Enforcement officer. One civilian preevent 99 percent of the emergence believe theres an automatic reporting for example of the shooting of unarmed people by Police Across the United States. There isnt. Out the only source you can find it is the Washington Post newspaper. It decided in 2015, to start collecting that information by reading news outlets and information. Putting it off together. Lets get the data so we understand if were falling behind areli making progress whn it comes to administration of justice. We also need to prohibit federal state and local Law Enforcement from racial religious and discriminatory profiles. This is a mission ive been working on for years. Profiling needs to come to an end and we know it is a problem. We need real training on racial bias. The duty to intervene. This gets to the heart of policing. Police runs parallel to our military and the standards that they operate under. When we talk about peer yourselvesn, we ask why didnt the other three policeman in minneapolis say to that policeman with his knee on the neck of george floyd stop your killing him, the data because of the socalled chain of command it. We need to have peer scrutiny and intervention in particularly in lifeanddeath situations. We believe we should plan the no knock warrants in drug cases. We know it t happened in the ciy ofvi louisville. We want to make certain it again. Happen we want to clear pan on chokehold and carotid old. We want the police to exercise absolute care with everyone. Standard of reasonable nest to prevent death and bodily injury, consider what happened and that wendys parking lot in atlanta. A number of factors involved here. But what was at the heart of the issue. At the heart of the issue was a man who drank too much and fell asleep in his car. At the drive in line at wendys. That is what started the police call and everything that followed read at the end of 40 minutes, the man who fell asleep in stark was shot dead in a parking lot and try to bring the measure, the response that the result because the original charges like the 20dollar counterfeit bill. It think to yourself, did that merit pulling and killing a man. Because he fell asleep his car. Now he shouldnt have been driving while and tics located. There is no evidence and he was involved in anywa accident there certainly a better way to bring that to ath conclusion other thn the confrontation that led to his death. Wo for victims lynching act, i yesterday. At this is long, long, long overdue. One of the first anti lynching bills was introduced after world war i by republican congressman and saint louis. A world war i veteran. He had served as an officer in the army, came back, was prosecuting attorney for st. Louis county. And then on july 1, 1917, there was a horrendous race riot in my hometown of st. Louis, illinois. 7000 africanamericans were rousted out of their homes and forced across the bridges into the city of st. Louis to escape death. The estimate of how many were killed is just that. But they range in the hundreds of africanamericans who were lynchedbl and murdered. As a result of that horrible experience in east st. Louis and the race riot, congressman dyer a republican from st. Louis introduce the federal antilynching law pretty past and the house of representatives there were 119 negative votes and among the negative votes were for members of the house who went on to become speakers. But they all four voted against the antilynching bill. It was by design. The combination of those who oppose it including southern democrats, stop the bill from being considered faced a filibuster, end of story but not the end of lynching by any means. Lynching is a blight on American History prayed theres absolutely no reason why we should not include the adderall antilynching statute which passed the house 410 to four in this package that is being considered. I believe it may be part of scottsdale as well i hope it will pass i hope the senator on the other side of the aisle thats held it up can be convinced otherwise. This is history, and it demands we bring an end to this bloodied chapter in American History which touches so many of the states. Weve a job to do. We have two bills and we have seen the republican bill for the first time this morning. Many of us believe it is at least an indication of the urgency of the issue. But not as n responsive as it should be. Let us not escape this moment in history, let us not avoid it. Lets face it and lets use it. We can make this a better nation. We can say to those young people, black, white, and brown those young women and men who are leading the marches in my state and across the nation, we hear you. Weio understand what to grow up in a different world and in a different nation. We understand that you want to see discrimination and racial mistreatment come to an end in this country. In this generation, the ones who are elected to do something about it will do just that. We will respond. I hope with senators mcconnell said this morning about opening this debate on the floor of the senate is not just a one and done take it or leave it approach by the majority side of the aisle. Lets have a real debate. Lets have a real effort to find common ground. I think it can work. Senator grassley and i approve that with the First Step Act a bipartisan bill signed by President Trump that made a difference. Thousands, literally thousands of federal inmates are released from prison whod length thing, impossible to explain sentences for nonviolent drug activity. They are home now, they are back out of prison now as they should be. We did it on a bipartisan compromise to reach it. Se to lets make sure the end of the day f what we do pass makes a difference in the future of america. Not just a quick press release something we can live with and be proud of for years to come. Mr. President , yield the