Credit: Office of Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick broke rank with many Republicans Thursday to vote for The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020.
Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Middletown Township in his second term, voted Thursday evening along with fellow GOP congressmen Fred Upton, of Michigan, and Will Hurd, of Texas, for the bill that is a sweeping reform of policing. The final vote was 236-181, with only the three Republicans supporting it.
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The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 prohibits federal, state, and local, law enforcement from discriminatory profiling and mandates training on racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling; bans chokeholds, carotid holds, and no-knock warrants at the federal level; puts additional restrictions on the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement; requires federal officers to wear body cameras and makes state and local law enforcement use existing federal funds to ensure the use of police body cameras; requires marked federal police vehicles to have dash cameras; bans chokeholds and carotid holds at the federal level; blocks no-knock warrants at the federal level; eliminates qualified immunity for law enforcement; creates development and training programs to better train police; makes state and local agencies to report use of force data, including by race, sex, disability, religion, and age; expands abilities for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate misconduct; establishes grants to help bring change to local law enforcement; and creates national accreditation standards.
The bill was pushed forward by Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass, a Democrat of California, and supported by Democratic senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the bill needs changes before the GOP-majority Senate would vote on it, according to ABC News.
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Fitzpatrick said he also supports Republican Sen. Tom Scott’s JUSTICE Act that would develop a national record of officer disciplinary reports, grants for body cameras, ban use of chokeholds in most cases, improves police transparency, would make lynching a federal crime, and create a bipartisan commission on the social status of black men and boys.
The congressman released a lengthy statement on his vote:
“Today I voted for The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 because it contains many much-needed reforms, and because we must move the legislative process and negotiations forward so we can begin to repair the social contract between police officers and the communities that they serve. It is important to note that, like Senator Tim Scott’s legislation in the Senate, this House legislation will serve as a launching point for bipartisan, bicameral negotiations and is still in need of modified bipartisan language before being considered in its final form; namely, a qualified immunity provision that needs to be drafted in a bipartisan manner that simultaneously accomplishes two key objectives: the protection of citizens’ constitutional rights and civil liberties, and the protection of police officers’ safety and ability to do their jobs free from fear of potential frivolous lawsuits. We can, and must, accomplish both. When the House and Senate versions are brought together to the conference committee, this will launch the process to help mend the gap and rebuild the social contract between police officers and the communities that they serve. Having served as a lifelong federal law enforcement agent and federal prosecutor, I will play an active role in bridging this gap. And I will insist that the final package be written in a way that both protects citizens’ constitutional and civil rights and preserves the noble profession of law enforcement, the profession that I have dedicated the majority of my adult life to, the profession that my great uncle Phil sacrificed his life and paid the ultimate price for.
“This moment calls on all of us to come together and repair this social contract so that we as Americans can start to heal. I firmly believe that we are all capable of rising to this challenge, because our own community in Bucks and Montgomery Counties have been a model when it comes to police-community relations. We need to apply our community model, always making improvements based on self-reflection, listening, understanding and learning, and show the rest of our country and the world that we are a country of law and order, a country that respects the rights, dignity, and equality of everyone, a country where police officers are one with the communities in which they serve. We are all members of the human family. I hope my colleagues will join me as we move forward to merge these bills and get a bill signed into law that will rise to this moment.”
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Fitzpatrick is a former FBI special agent and served as a special assistant U.S. Attorney. In his campaigns for office, he has been endorsed by the Bucks County Fraternal Order of Police.
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