President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris host a meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), in the Oval Office on February 2.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris host a meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), in the Oval Office on February 2. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Congressional Black Caucus Meets with Biden to Push for Police Accountability

Last year, at least 1,192 people were killed by law enforcement officers in the U.S., and 26% were Black people despite making up more than 13% of U.S. population

WASHINGTON — The Congressional Black Caucus met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris Thursday evening to urge the administration to use its executive power for law enforcement reform, following criminal charges for police officers in the killing of a Black man in Memphis, Tennessee. 

“My hope is this dark memory spurs some action that we’ve all been fighting for,” Biden said.

Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was beaten by five Memphis police officers during a traffic stop on Jan. 7 and died three days later. The five police officers have been fired and indicted in connection with his death.

After the city released video footage of the beating last week, protests against police brutality have continued, along with calls from Democratic lawmakers to reform policing.  Some would like to change qualified immunity, legal precedents that protect government officials, such as law enforcement officials, from many lawsuits stemming from accusations of violations of constitutional rights.  

Biden said he hopes there can be progress on police reform.

“We gotta stay at it as long as it takes,” Biden said.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus who visited the White House included Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford of Nevada, James Clyburn of South Carolina, Joe Neguse of Colorado and Sheila Lee Jackson of Texas and Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Raphael Warnock of Georgia.

“The death of Tyre Nichols is yet another example of why we do need action,” Horsford said to Biden in the Oval Office. “We need your help to make sure we can get the legislative actions that are necessary to save lives and to make public safety the priority that it needs to be for all communities.”

Nichols’ parents are also expected to be at Biden’s State of the Union address next week, after accepting an invitation from Horsford, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus.   

Harris traveled to Memphis this week to attend Nichols’ funeral, where she made a call for legislation to prevent racial profiling and excessive force. 

Any legislation relating to police reform would likely originate in the Senate, as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has not said much about such legislation since Nichols’ death, and voted against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which the House passed in 2020. 

George Floyd was a Black man murdered by Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020, who was filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. It sparked national outrage and protests against police brutality and racism.

Talks between Booker and Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina about a policing accountability bill, such as the George Floyd bill, fell apart in the Senate.

Scott on Thursday wrote on Twitter that the House’s George Floyd bill is a nonstarter.

“I’ve been working toward common ground solutions that actually have a shot at passing,” Scott wrote on Twitter. “Solutions to increase funding and training to make sure only the best wear the badge.” 

The House last year did pass, on a bipartisan basis, four bills that provided grants to small law enforcement agencies, funding for mental health professionals to respond to calls in which people are in distress and funding for crime-solving technology. 

Those bills were the Invest to Protect Act, the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, the Mental Health Justice Act and the VICTIM Act.

Biden also signed into law late last year the Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022, which directs the Justice Department to develop training situations for de-escalation tactics and responding safely to a mental health crisis. A $124 million grant was provided for law enforcement agencies to develop those de-escalation practices.    

Last year, at least 1,192 people were killed by law enforcement officers in the U.S., and 26% were Black people despite making up more than 13% of the U.S. population, according to the nonprofit Mapping Police Violence.  

Reform practices were in place in Memphis, from body cameras to a civilian police oversight board.

Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on Facebook and Twitter.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.