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| Kevin Lamarque / Reuters |
The Senate voted 55-45 on Wednesday in a procedural step to move forward on the bill, but fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance. Democratic caucus Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), and Angus King (I-Maine) voted to move forward with the bill.
The move comes a week after Republican Senator Tim Scott, the only African American Republican in the Senate, unveiled their plan that would encourage local police departments through federal grants to curtail the use of chokeholds and require officers to report no-knock warrants and uses of force.
Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted that the bill would stall. "The American people deserve an outcome. And we cannot get an outcome if Democrats will not even let us begin," McConnell said.
However, Democrats say the bill does not go far enough. "Because the bill needs such large-scale and fundamental change, there is no conceivable way that a series of amendments strong enough to cure the defects in the bill garner 60 votes either. So no bill will pass as a result of this ploy," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Democrats unveiled their own bill that focuses on reforming police policies by holding police accountable for any misconduct, as well as being able to track “problematic” officers through a national misconduct registry, which the House plans to vote Thursday on, and pass the Democratic chamber.