WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Two Republican senators who are teaming up to reform policing in America have high hopes their bill will make it through Congress.
“(I am) very optimistic that it will get to the finish line,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said Tuesday after meeting with Senate Republicans about the path of his new bill on police reform.
Scott, the Senate’s lone black Republican, is taking the lead for his party on the issue.
“Under the leadership of Senator Tim Scott, we’ll have recommendations to be made,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said.
The announcement comes just a day after Congressional Democrats made their pitch for police reform.
“So the Democrats put forward a proposal that has no Republicans supporting it. So that’s not going to become a law,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said Tuesday afternoon.
Romney is joining Scott on his legislation. He also joined Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, D.C. over the weekend.
Romney’s father marched for Civil Rights in the 1960s.
“I grew up in a home where the fight for civil rights was a centerpiece,” Romney added.
Scott and Romney said they’re looking at effective updates to police training and oversight and collecting information about the use of excessive force and using the patterns they discover to support prevention.
Romney said their plan has a better chance of passing and that he already is hearing from Democrats that are willing to work together.
Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) said he’s supporting the Democratic-led bill.
Jones said in a statement, “this legislation is an important and long-overdue step toward tackling a problem that we need to address.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, “Democrats will not let this go and we will not rest until we achieve real reforms.”
Both Democrats and Republicans want to get a bill on the Senate floor and voted on by July. But which bill succeeds will be up for debate.
