Congressional Issues

(Washington, DC) – Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) is calling on Speaker Pelosi to apologize and begin negotiating a policing reform bill. Late Tuesday, Speaker Pelosi stated in an interview: Republicans “they were trying to get away with murder, actually – the murder of George Floyd.” Both House and Senate Republicans have introduced the JUSTICE Act, a police reform bill that funds additional body cameras and storage of camera footage, has federal reporting for use of force, and many other provisions, with the intention of modernizing our law enforcement standards and ensuring justice for all Americans. The Democrats’ proposal, the Justice in Policing Act does mirror large portions of the Republican bill, but also includes dangerous provisions that would allow frivolous lawsuits against good officers. Ultimately many of the provisions in the Democrat bill are designed to punish law enforcement, resulting in low morale of officers in retention, or recruitment of new ones. This is not the way to speed positive reforms. Republican Senators are attempting to take up the JUSTICE Act, a bill that is a positive effort for reform while respecting the good work our officers do, in an open manner that allows any member to offer amendments. Alas, Democrats have blocked any further consideration of the bill.