News conference earlier. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said he hopes to move the legislation soon and urged democrats to support the bill. Good morning, and thank you for coming out this morning and let me just say leader mcconnell, thank you for the opportunity to have this conversation as i approached you about the importance of this ish i aish issue and asked for to have a conversation with america about Police Accountability and transparency as and that exactly what the act focuses on. You are also smart enough to put together a really strong group of senators who understand the issue, passionate be the issue and expertise in different aspects of the senate. This is a great team youve put together and i appreciate having the opportunity to discuss the important issue of police reform. Let me start by simply saying that too often were having a discussion in this nation about, ary supporting the Law Enforcement community or are you supporting communities of color . This is a false binary choice. The answer to the question of, which side do you support . Its, support america. And if you support america, you support restoringal confidence that communities of color have in with institutions of authority. You support america you know the overwhelming number of officers in this nation want to do their job, go home to their family. It is not a binary choice. This legislation encompasses that spirit. It speaks to the fact that we believe that the overwhelming number of officers in this nation are good people. Working hard. Trying to keep order in the communities. Communities color and people like myself, told my story several times. Stopped seven times in one year. That isnt to say a lot but i was stopped this year driving while black and got warning ticket for failing to use my turn signal earlier in my lane change, and so this issue continues, and thats why its so important for us to say that we hear you. Were listening to your concerns. The george floyd incident certainly accelerated this conversation, and we find ourselves at a place with a package that i think speaks to the families that i spoke with yesterday who lost loved ones. We hear you. I think this package speaks very clearly to the young person whos concerned when stopped by Law Enforcement officers, we see you. So what does this package do . Three major areas. One is on the area we have to have the right information so that we can direct our resources as the federal government to making sure that the outcomes lead to safer officers and safer suspects in the instances of challenges. That Data Collection or the information is around making sure that when serious Bodily Injury occurs or death, that all that information is reported to the fbi. Today only 40 of the departments report that information to the fbi. We want all that information, because when we hear about the Breonna Taylor case in louisville, kentucky, we dont have any information around noknock warrants. So for us to start a conversation with banning no knocks, doesnt sound like a solid position based on any data, because we dont have that data. Once we have the information, and we can then turn to the training that is necessary, to deescalate situations. The duty to intervene, not standing there watching an officer with his knee on the neck, but intervening in those situations. We can train our officers better. We can find ways and mechanisms to deescalate the situation. So we spent a lot of time in the training aspect using the resources of our grants to reduce the situations and violence in those situations, and then finally we look at officer misconduct and necessity of transparency. We believe that the preservation of records on the local level so that the departments within the states have a chance to see almost like a reference check. What the past history of complaints have been against that officer. We do not create a National Database. The president s executive order creates basically a National Database for that information to flow into. We believe that our policy positions are one that brings the communities of color into a position of stronger understanding and confidence in the institutions of authority, and we believe that it brings our Law Enforcement community to a place where they have the resources necessary to deescalate some of these situations and, frankly, through James Lankfords work on this package, we bring in the opportunity to hire more officers and have more training and have a better perspective on the history. With that, a lot that could be said but instead of saying more ill give it over to senator mcconnell. Well, thank you, tim. Even before george floyd and Breonna Taylor, senator scott has made it possible for those of us in the Senate Republican conference who are not africanamerican to understand that this problem still exists. We learned about his being stopped on numerous occasions well before the events of this year. But the witnessing of the murder of george floyd and the experience in my hometown of Breonna Taylor certainly brings to the forefront this issue for all americans, including Senate Republicans. My role as the leader, as you know, it sew decide what were going to do. This is the coin of the realm in the senate because it does take a while to do almost anything. Im announcing today after we do two circuit judges cued up this week or early next week were going to turn to the scott bill, file claim for motion to proceed and our democratic friends if they want to make a law and not just try to make a point, i hope theyll join us in getting on the bill and trying to move forward in the way the senate does move forward when its trying to actually get an outcome rather than just sparring back and forth which you all have seen on frequent occasions by both sides. I also want to thank the whole team behind us. Everybodys contradicted significantly to this product. But without tims leadership, it would not have been possible and without his leadership, i wouldnt be putting this on the floor, but i want you to know that were serious about make ag law he making a law. This is about coming together and getting an outcome. We showed we could do that on the c. A. R. E. S. Act. We have sewn hown it on the gre american outdoors act and we need to show it on the scott bill. This is about making a law, not just make ag point. This is not messaging. This is trying to be able to work in the most bipartisan way we can work. Get it on the floor, have amendments, talk to the process. Equal justice under the law shouldnt be a partisan issue. A friend and i talked. Its not our founding principles are off. Founding principles are right. Were still working trying to be a more Perfect Union and we have a ways to go on that and wrb we find areas we dont have a more Perfect Union we should engage. Examples. Senator scott gone through multiple areas in the bill. A section on the bill, a black officer in oklahoma city, whats the possibility putting out grants to help more departments hire black recruiters and help individuals that are coming through the training in the Police Academy to have that ability. Where communities and the Law Enforcement dont match as far as ethnicity, could the federal government engage and help incentivize. One of the acts of this bill. Encouraging more people are color to engage in the community where its been a challenge at times to say lets break through that and find a way to solve that. We have great assets here even in washington, d. C. Museum of africanAmerican History is underutilized to explain the story of whats the relationship between race and Law Enforcement. Its utilized by some, not most. How can we use that great source to tell the story nationwide as well . Its about transparency, providing information to Law Enforcement and to individuals. This is about accountability but also about trying to build that more perfect younion we can hav. Equal justice under the law, have it for all people and senator scott mentioned before, not to be proLaw Enforcement or procommunities of color but proamerican in the process. One, i want to thank tim for taking on this task, for all of us. Hes the right person at the right time, and god has plan for you and youre fulfilling that plan. Trying to bring us together as it a country. I spent five hours with john and ben and others on the Judiciary Committee listening yesterday, and it was a fascinating hearing. Theres a process in the air force called listen, learn and lead. To my colleagues on the other side who said, we talk too much, dont need top listen anymore, where were you for the eight years of the Obama Administration . Im getting a little tired lectured to by my democratic colleagues that all of this is trumps fault. You had eight years under president obama the justice and policing act, none taken up veriirtual virtually, youre making no points with me trying to suggest that were bad and yall are not when it comes to this issue. You had eight years. No attempts to ban choke halholr do all the things we awe agree to do now. Fight about it . Lets fight. If you want to admit that the country needs to move on together, lets do it. So as to President Trumps executive order a good start. I appreciate him starting the conversation. He brought families in to the white house. They appreciated being listened to by their president. To my democratic colleagues, i appreciate putting together your list. Id like to work with you. But were not going to get there if we keep playing this game. That were exclusively to blame here. Now, theyre shopping list, for lack of a better term, of what to do compared to tims, theres a lot of overlap. But theres some real differences. And how do you hammer out those real differences . You talk to each other. After the hearing, i had multiple democratic colleagues come up to me and say, lets try to reconcile our differences. To the American People after the hearing i am more hopeful than before the hearing theres going to be a genuine effort to bring reform to a problem going on well before president obama and if we dont doing in about it its going to go well past President Trump. Thank you for your leadership, tim. For me, this conversation is about trust, justice and reconciliation, as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee said. The evident that there are communities in our country who have lost trust in Law Enforcement based on their experience, and thats where weve had an opportunity to learn from tim and others who feel like theyve been disproportionately focused on by Law Enforcement for some time for pretexttural reasons, but i had an opportunity to talk to George Floyds family. Theyre from houston, texas, and rodney, his brother, told me, he said, senator, we are from texas, and we want some texassize justice. And i said, well, mr. Floyd, to the best of my ability thats exactly what we will deliver. So thanks to tim scott, senator scotts, leadership and the contribution of everybody here, were all going to have a chance to try to attempt this reconciliation, to restore trust in some of you are 0 most important institutions, like our police. One of the things that is included in this piece of legislation is a bill that may look familiar, which is one that created a National Criminal justice commission. This was a bipartisan bill that i introduced with chairman graham and gary peters, democrat from michigan in 2015. It actually has cleared the senate previously, which means all 100 senators have had a chance to pass that bill. It died in the house through basically, we ran out of time. But in my view we need to do something in the immediate time frame, then we need to look at what do we need to do in the long term to reform our criminal Justice System . Thats exactly what this commission Bipartisan Commission would do. It would report back to congress in 18 months with specific recommendations, and i think not like the 9 11 commission that would be extraordinarily helpful. Its really hard for Congress Given the daytoday things we deal with to take the broad view, and this would allow us to garners recommendations of experts all across the country, and then take up their recommendations and pass them as Congress Sees fit. But, tim, thank you for your great leadership. Thank you. And thanks for ledding me be a part of the team. I want to thank all of you for being here today, and i think our main message today is that the justice act is is working towards a solution. And its not a political exercise. I said the other day on an interview i had, and just sitting there thinking about it, that if this is a Pivotal Moment in our countrys history, and if we as congress, as republicans and democrats joining together fail to act because of the crying voices that we hear every day about this, then were going to be deemed a failure. In the eyes of so many, not just our our communities of color, but our young people are losing faith and trust in our Law Enforcement and in our ability to react to situations where we can be helpful and where we should be helpful. So Racial Discrimination has no place in this country. I think of a mother who is telling her young black son how to react when you get pulled over in a car. A much different conversation than many other people in this country are having with their young sons talking about how to react. And that young man doesnt know how hes going to be received by the officer, and the fear, really, that you would feel in that situation. Its very, very real. So many of us are overwhelmed on what weve seen with the george floyd situation and what we saw happening in minneapolis. But we do know that the vast majority of the Police Officers in this country are good people. These are hard jobs. These are jobs that are that people have in their hearts and communities to want to keep their communities safe, to want to have places to raise their families that are safe and dedicated to the rule of law. And so i think this is a moment to spur us to action so that every american citizen will know that equal protection means that. It means equal protection, and we go back as james said to the constitution, and the rights that are provided. But it doesnt mean defunding the police. It means improving the police. Improving and restoring the faith in our Law Enforcement. And thats what the justice acts does. One of the conversations tim and i had just recently was about the chokehold situation, and i said after watching the george floyd tape more than a few times, weve got to get rid of these. Many states, many communities, many Law Enforcement communities have already abandoned that as a technique and a tactic. So im pleased weve got weve gone in that direction and think the result would be an elimination of the chokehold as a strategy of restraint. So i think that there is absolutely no conflict between being procivil rights and proLaw Enforcement, and i think thats what you see reflected in this bill. So to my colleagues on the other side, we need to have this conversation in front of the American People on the house of the u. S. Senate. On the floor of the u. S. Senate. Where we can debate different ideas, debate different strategies, compromise like we do when we need to and we should, and not be a failure to the people and the voices who are crying out daily for us to help. So, thank you, tim, for your leadership and thanks to all of you on the team. This isnt the whole team. Rest of many, many people wapged in on this not just within the senate but also throughout the country, and i thank them for that. Thank you. Thanks, shelley. And thanks to all of you for making time for us. I want to applaud senator scott and his leadership in this as leader mcconnell said at the beginning. This is a topic a number of us had in a conference repeatedly way too many times the last ten full years and glad the leader put it on the schedule to put it on the deplore. Underscoring three things tim said. False a false binary to set it up a debate between peoples color and Law Enforcement and those trying to maintain public trust. We need to restore and rebuild more public trust and it starts nair othering differences and figure out what can we get done to move Forward Together so the fact this is actually on the floor next week is a big deal and senator scott and his team and all of our teams, especially a lot of people on tims team have been working around the clock the last two weekends to get this to a place where the leader could decide to change floor schedule and put this forward next week so this should be a chance for us to be moving forward. Point two. As tim said, the vast majority of Law Enforcement want to support the idea of america. They want to support stable, local justice that is reliable and believable and predictable and improving this, this union as james said, is the right creatal aspiration for america and we fail in lots of ways to live up to our belief and to our foundational documents, and we want to get better and better at doing that and the vast majority of police many of us have spent a lot of time with Law Enforcement, both in our own states but across the country over the last few weeks and you see police that are agonizing about these mistakes and they want better hiring. They want better training. They want improvement. They want accountability. Heres the truth. That the vast majority of cops are really great. But of those bad cops that exist, the single most important thing thats happened to hold bad cops accountability in the last decade is this thing. Ed and the reality of much more pervasive cameras has been the best thing to improve accountability and to expose bad cops. Thats good news, but its a reactive tool. The point of this exercise is to figure out how we can get proactive. This thing is held more bad cops accountable but not because government has been getting better, but because theres more pervasive technology. We need to use the opportunity of all that weve seen thats wrong to improve upon it by going from reactive to proactive. And the third thing is, this bill next week ought to get 100 votes to begin the debate. I this ought to get 100 votes to end the debate as well. If you believe this is a time to make a law not just a point. If this is a time to improve and issue as opposed to hold on to it as a political issue then all people of goodwill and good faith will see that the justice act, the legislation that tim author and all of us tributed to, but the justice act is a starting point of a whole bunch of consensus issues and once youre on a a bill we can debate how to make it even better. A bunch of things a lot of us think need to be done to hold local Police Unions more accountable and make them on the side of trying to improve local Law Enforcement not spend it, a big chunk of their time as many unions have done historically, many have done protecting bad apples and sort of moving around folks and hiding their records of folks who got into trouble. There are a lot more debates we could have more controversial. Theyre important debates to be had about qualified immunity. In those debates on debates and vote on that. Voting 100 to 0 to get on this bill and make it better. Thank you for your interest in this and thank you, senator scott for your leadership. Also with us, we also have with us congressman staufered who will lead the effort in the house. Pete and i have had a few conversations about the importance of police reform. The importance of accountability and transparency. Pete comes with, comes to us with a unique skill set and at 25 years of service as a police officer. I believe you came a commander before you left. Pete also, unfortunately, had the gruesome experience of being shot in the head in 1993. 95. 1995 as an officer and so he understands this issue from multiple perspectives. From a real world on the streets perspective, which i think has tremendous value in the conversation. Its been said not a binary choice. We have a Law Enforcement officer whos been work ag loin long time on this issue and thankful you joined the team and are going to help lead us to victory. So thank you. Thank you for the kind words, senator scott. My name is congressman pete sauber and i served as a Law Enforcement officer in duluth, minnesota. Someone who swore and oath to serve and protect my community i was devastating watching the video of george floyd dieing at the hands of a Minneapolis Police officer who swore that soim oa same oath. Wrap what i saw goes against everything i stood for as a police officer. George floyds life mattered and the best way to honor his memory enacting meaningful and lasting change within policing. Over the past weeks my colleagues and i have had healthy discussions about the most effective ways to enact this much needed change. As one of just a few members of congress who has worn the local uniform, i am proud and eager to take part in these discussions. I believe that lasting change begins by implementing communityplacing standards at Police Departments across this nation. When Community Policing practicing are properly implemented, you end up policing with your community rather than policing your community. It is a method that builds trust. In order to make Real Progress on public sayy we will need to restore trust between Law Enforcement and the community they serve. This legislation will do just that. I believe with every fiber of my being that Law Enforcement is necessary. And that the overwhelming majority of men and women who serve in Law Enforcement are good and moral people. The Police Officers who have, who i have had the privilege of working with over the years, they head to work every day and make great personal sacrifices to keep their Community Safe from harm. Rather than defunding the police, which would only make our communities less safe, we must work to increase transparency and accountability within policing with helping our heroic Police Officers safely perform their jobs. The communities around this country are not wrong in their calls for justice. However, theres a way forward that brings our Law Enforcement officers and their surrounding communities together for the betterment of our society. Yesterday President Trump took Decisive Action to foster closer ties between Law Enforcement and the communities they serve. I applaud the president for working to restore trust and unite our nation. The president has taken action and it is now our turn to act. I am incredibly grateful to work with senator tim scott and so many great leaders in congress. On these muchneeded reforms. Our nation is calling for change, and i am confident that we will rise to the occasion. Thank you very much. Happy to take a few questions. Yes, maam . Ask two things. What have your discussions been with senator booker and senator harris . And if you dont get it through the senate byall july fourth, you lose momentum. Ive had multiple conversations with senator booker, none with senator harris and i look forward to finding a middle ground where the motion to proceed will have as articulated here already 100 votes to move forward so we can actually have a robust debate how to make the legislation better and serve the American People. So i hope that hes will be to cooperate on getting us there, but certainly without any democrat support, that means this is only a symbolic moment and not a moment for us to make a law. Open to national mandates at all in whether its mandated in the use of body cameras, requiring vetting, noknock warrants in drug cases or banning chokeholds . Are you open at all to any of those national mandates democrats are for . Certainly i think we achieved some of the same ends by our approach, frankly. If you think about the inability to have any grants, if your department has chokeholds, that frankly is by default of a ban on chokeholds. The conversation moving forward, the only way we get to to a place we have a law, work with friends on the other side. Were willing to have that conversation. I think there are things i believe congress will not support but also will support a conversation. All support having meaningful dialogue. Whatever comes out of that lie l dialogue has to be the best information. One. Things democrats are talking about qualified immunity. A sticking point. We talk to Police Officers say youre not getting qualified people. Why should i put myself on the line if im going to be able to have something taken away from me in a civil suit . Your reaction . Is this off the table . Qualified immunity. Different members of the conference have different opinions on qualified immunity. My position has been that when the democrats Start Talking about qualified immunity and ability to aggressively pursue officers at a higher threshold that is, from my perspective. Is there a conversation that could be had around Something Different . Perhaps. I havent heard it yet but were open to hearing. I think lindsey alluded to the fact theres been a conversation happening in the Judiciary Committee that may bring more light to this issue but i have not had this conversation so far. And i have a question. First, do you expect to have the endorsement of President Trump for this legislation and also when you met with the victim family yesterday at the white house did you talk to them about this bill and if you did, what was their reaction to your approach . Well, look, i hope the president will join forces and jump onboard. I have had several conversations over several days with the president and his team who crafted the executive order. We report at least part of the process of understanding and appreciating direction of the executive order, tried to take the information i had about the executive order hard wire the bill from Mental Health aspects of it as you see the coresponders in the president s executive order and sitting down with Family Members yesterday twice, once at the white house, second time in my office we went through the bill. What it does and doesnt do. They were frankly, you heard in some of the media reports, they believe the bill is helpful. Does it take it to the level that every Family Member wants it to . I think the answer is probably not. Does it get us much closer . According to the words i heard from the Family Members in both meetings, the answer is, yes. And then you said at the top this is not a binary issue between the police and pushing for black lives matter. Sure. A lot the rhetoric from the president , tweet, law and order, those type things. Do you think he can give a little . Obviously he has to give, to have this conversation with democrats after the hearing yesterday, hes going to have to give a little. Do you think that he is willing to bend . Ill say this. The president was the most president ial ive seen him talking to the families yesterday. It was not about anything other than finding justice for the victims and their families. If you want to see the president s willingness to to to bend so to speak, its not so much about bending, and all about finding justice. And the path forward. His instructions to the ag yesterday during that meeting with the families was, get it done. Dont tell me youre going to do it. Go do it. Start getting closer involved in the cases that are yet, the outcome is still undetermined. The president s willingness to meet us on this issue, its clear. His executive order statements about justice for the families, about having this conversation, his, frankly, his executive order went a lot further. You have van jones talking about this is a real executive order, van jones and the president jumping on the same page is almost walking on water in america. So you know . Theres a lot for us to actually celebrate about every lever of government that wants change and most of us want about 70 of the same change. Does not your bill establish the bill [ inaudible ] democratic bill something, how democrats putting together in the markup . I cant speak to what the democrats are doing. I will say what weve done is a bipartisan piece of legislation taking up priorities in the house bill, words of the president and executive order and the fantastic minds behind me. And crafted it into a piece of legislation. The legislation is already bipartisan. The question, can we get bipartisan support . Yes, maam . Active, ongoing negotiations with democrats right now on changes to this bill that would get them onboard before the motion . Not with me. There are active conversations going on about democrats. Let me say it this way. If we dont have the votes on a motion to proceed, that means that politics is more important than restoring confidence in communities of color in the institutions of authority. One more question on that point seen bipartisan groups of lawmakers get together on big issue, immigration can gun violence, deficit reduction only to have it fall apart. Why is this issue different . I think we weve gone through a lot this year as a country. Started with impeachment. Find ourselves in a global pandem pandemic. In the global pandemic, i was sitting talking to ben sasse about challenges we were facing and working on some of the lindsey, on the unemployment issues and i thought to myself, no way that were going to all come together and do something meaningful. Well, 96 votes later, to 0, this congress, this senate, acted not in a bipartisan fashion, just a good, oldfashioned americans making something happen for their neighbors, for their friends and for people theyve never met. I believe that if we take that same consciousness into this process answers dont make it about bipartisan or partisan politics but make it about families with lost loved one, restoring trust, respecting officers. If we can put that on the table and not your shirt versus skins game well get to the finish line. Last question. Yesterdays hearing and throughout the debate after George Floyds death we heard a number of viewpoints. Seems democrats and a number of activists are talking about systemic racism in policing. I dont hear any of you saying that. How does that i could be wrong. I just didnt hear that yesterday, other than chairman graham got talked a bit about that potential, but i wonder, how does that difference really affect the outcome of this bill . How does it affect your chances to get to a solution, if you dont agree on the problem . Well, i would say that if you look at the legislation, look at the house legislation, you wereofhave to come to the conclusion from a training perfective importance of deescalation, duty to intervene, chokeholds is a place we have common ground. If you look at importance of Data Collection, you would say without question, the senate wants more information on serious Bodily Injury and use of force that leads to death. The house bill says they want information on all uses of force. Heres what were saying. On the issue of Data Collection, were on the same page. On training and on grants and using resources of the federal government to compel and to encourage behavior and local departments, were on the same page. On misconduct of officers, we want to, a departmentbydepartment database, locally. They want a state data base. The president in his executive order speaks about a National Database. Were on the same page. The fact some people enjoy talking about systemic racism, the fact some people want to define everything from a racism, racist perspective and we dont spend time on the definition of a word but we spend time on the definition of the problem and the definition of the solution, when theres an overlap of 70 , 7 0 when you start youre in the right place. So i dont know how to tell people that the nation is not racist. Ill try again. Were not a racist country. We deal with racism, because theres racism in the country. Both are mutually true. They are both true, not mooch awa mutually exclusive e. Its good for headlines but not policy. Were going to focus on getting something done. Thank you. Senator more Live Programming ahead. Coming up at 1 00 eastern, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats unveil a new infrastructure proposal. Watch that announcement live when it happens here on c spans 3. President trump meets with the nations governors this afternoon to discuss reopening plans and efforts to help Small Businesses affected by the pandemic. Thats set to start at 3 00 p. M. Eastern, also live here on cspan3. And we might hear the president comment on the latest ruling from the supreme court, justices today rejected the administrations effort to end the Legal Protections for 650,000 young immigrants through the deferred action for childhood arrivals program. The Trump Administration had argued that the daca program is illegal and that courts have no role in reviewing the decision to end it. Read the entire decision at cspan. Org. American history tv on cspan3. Exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. Coming up sunday, beginning at 9 00 a. M. Eastern, remarking the 70th anniversary of the korean war live on wall street journal and American History tv, with pulitzer prizewinning journalist charles hanley, author of ghost flames, life and death in a hidden war. Korea, 195053. Sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern, real america features a series of u. S. Government korean war films starting with to help peace survive. A 1974 were Defense Department orientation film for soldiers assigned to south korea. At 7 00 p. M. , oral histories. U. S. Marine veteran alan clark on serving two tours in korea between 1950 and 1953. Exploring the american story. Watch American History tv this weekend on cspan3. First the former National Security advisers has a lengthy excerpt of his book online at wall street journal this morning. Wsj. Com. John bolton the scandal of