{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/senator-tim-scott-delivers-fiery-speech-on-senate-floor-after-senate-democrats-stonewall-legislation-on-police-reform-across-america/", "Senator Tim Scott Delivers Fiery Speech on Senate Floor After Senate Democrats Stonewall Legislation on Police Reform Across America", "2020-06-24", "2020", "2020-06", "Republican", "Senate", "SC", "Tim Scott", "S001184", "www.scott.senate.gov", "timscott", "https://www.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/jsf/jet-engine:press-list", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), leader of the JUSTICE Act taskforce, took to the Senate Floor after the Senate Democrats stonewalled legislation on police reform in American communities.\n\nBelow are a few quotes from the senator\u2019s speech today:\n\n\u201cMr. President, there is danger coming. The source of this danger is not the failure of this bill on this floor at this time. This is merely a symptom of the danger that I believe is right in front of us.\u201d\n\n\u201cToday, we lost a vote on a piece of legislation that would have led to systemic change in the relationship between communities of color and the law enforcement community. We would have broken the concept in this nation that you have to be for law enforcement or for communities of color. That is a false binary choice.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy friends on the other side just said no. Not no to the legislation\u2026 they just said no.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis process is not broken because of the legislation. This is a broken process beyond that one piece of legislation. It\u2019s one of the reasons why communities of color \u2013 Americans of all colors \u2013 are losing faith in the institutions of authority and power in this nation.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t like what you see, change it. We offered them opportunities to change it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe actual problem is not what is being offered. It is who is offering it\u2026. As a black man, I get the \u2018who\u2019 being the problem. It\u2019s one of the reasons why I went to Senator McConnell and said I want to lead this conversation\u2026. What I missed in this issue is that the stereotyping of Republicans is just as toxic to the outcomes of the most vulnerable communities in this nation\u2026. They cannot allow this party to be seen as a party that reaches out to all communities in this nation.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe irony of the story is not the bill. The irony of the story is that today and through June and July what we\u2019ll have is- instead of getting 70 percent of what you wanted, or more \u2013 you\u2019re going to get 0.\u201d\n\nClick the image to view the full video\n\nTranscript as delivered\n\nThank you, Senator Perdue. Mr. President, there is a scripture in the Bible in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 33, somewhere around verse 36. That scripture talks about a watchman on a wall. And his job is to simply say there\u2019s danger coming.\n\nVery important job. The watchman\u2019s job is to simply say there is danger coming. I had that conversation, as Senator Perdue spoke about, five years ago. I didn\u2019t find anyone on the other side willing to engage in that conversation then, and here we are five years later. There is danger coming. I want us to hear this clearly because as we look out on the streets of America and we see more unrest and we see more challenging situations, realize that there is danger coming. The watchman\u2019s responsibility is to call out the danger, and as the bloodshed happens, the blood, according to Ezekiel, will not be on the hands of the watchman. But if he does not shout out, if he does not articulate that there is danger coming, then the blood is on his hands.\n\nMr. President, there is danger coming. We are in dangerous times. The source of this danger is not the failure of this bill on this floor at this time. Nope. This is merely a symptom of the danger that I believe is right in front of us. This is only a symptom of a much deeper issue, a systemic problem. Let me explain. I\u2019m a kid who grew up in poverty, abject poverty in many ways. There\u2019s much worse poverty in America and certainly around the world than I grew up in.\n\nI\u2019m talking about the poverty where when you come home and you hit the light switch, there\u2019s no light. I\u2019m talking about the kind of poverty that when you had a phone attached to the wall and you picked it up, there\u2019s no sound. There are people who lived in worse poverty than I, but that is poverty from my perspective. I lived in that poverty and one of the challenging situations of poverty that manifests is hopelessness.\n\nI was that hopeless kid in America. Mired in poverty, in a single-parent household, under the impression that the only way that I can escape poverty is through athletics or entertainment. I was hopeless. And from seven years old to 14 years old, I drifted, and all drifting leads in the wrong direction. I failed out of high school, embarrassed my mom, who was working 16 hours a day because I felt like there was no hope in this country for a little black boy like me. 14 years old. Failed Spanish, English, world geography, and civics. Civics, as we all know, is as close as it gets to politics. I will say that this body as a whole today is failing civics. We\u2019re failing at politics.\n\nBut as the Lord would have it, I had an amazing mother who believed that it was her responsibility to pray me out of the hard situations I found myself, and then I had the good fortune of meeting a mentor after I got through summer school. They redirected me. I pulled myself together with the help of a praying family, a praying grandmother, and a whole lot of faith. I caught up with my class. I graduated on time, earned a small football scholarship, went to college, earned a degree in political science.\n\nAlong the way, I joined the NAACP, joined the Urban League, joined many organizations in the community because I knew that part of my responsibility was to be socially engaged in making a difference, no matter how small that difference could be. The one organization I didn\u2019t even think about joining was the Republican Party.\n\nWhy would I ever think about joining the Republican Party? Because growing up every African American, every black person I knew of, was wed to the Democrat Party, because it\u2019s better to have a seat in the room than be outside. That was the heritage I grew up in. Let me fast-forward to where we are today and I\u2019ll return to that.\n\nToday we lost \u2014 I lost \u2014 a vote on a piece of legislation that would have led to systemic change in the relationship between the communities of color and the law enforcement community. We would have broken this concept in this nation that somehow some way you have to either be for law enforcement or for communities of color. That is a false binary choice. It\u2019s just not true. This legislation spoke to the important issues that have brought us here today. We wouldn\u2019t be here if it were not, as Senator Perdue alluded to, for the death of yet another African American man, George Floyd.\n\nHis murder is why the country has given us the opportunity to lead, to lead. And my friends on the other side just said no. Not no to the legislation. They just said no. And why am I saying that they didn\u2019t just say no to the legislation? It\u2019s because along the way I sat down with many of them and said, what do you need? And Senator Schumer sent a letter telling \u2014 I believe it was Senator McConnell \u2014 there are five things in the legislation that needed to be improved. I said, let\u2019s give them the five amendments. I sat down with more senators and they said, wait, wait, wait. There\u2019s not just five. There\u2019s 20. I said, how about 20 amendments? And they walked out.\n\nYou see, this process is not broken because of the legislation. This is a broken process beyond that one piece of legislation. It\u2019s one of the reasons why communities of color, young Americans of all colors, are losing faith in the institutions of authority and power in this nation. Because we\u2019re playing small ball. We\u2019re playing for those in the insulated chambers. We\u2019re playing for presidential politics. That\u2019s small ball. Playing the big boys game is playing for the kids who can\u2019t represent themselves. And if you don\u2019t like what you see, change it. We offered them opportunities, at least 20 I offered, to change it. Their answer to me? You can\u2019t offer 20 amendments. I said why not? Because Mitch McConnell won\u2019t give 20 amendments.\n\nI spoke to Mitch McConnell. He said you can have 20 amendments. I told them that. We went to a press conference yesterday and we said an open process. They didn\u2019t want an open process. They want one thing and I\u2019m going to get to that. So I asked my friends, what is it, what is it you don\u2019t like about where we\u2019re going? They said well, the data collection area. This is a problem. The data collection area is a problem. Tell me the problem.\n\nThe problem is we\u2019re not collecting data. Wait a second. I could have sworn when I wrote the legislation we were collecting data. I flipped through the pages and realized we\u2019re collecting data \u2014 collecting data for serious bodily injury and death. They said we want to collect data on all uses of force. I said put it in an amendment and I\u2019ll support it. That was just one bone of contention. I said, well, tell me another one. They said, our bone of contention is that we need you to ban no-knock warrants because of the Breonna Taylor situation.\n\nI said your bill does not ban no-knock warrants for the Breonna Taylor situation. Your bill bans it for federal agents. There\u2019s not a secret service agent showing up at Breonna Taylor\u2019s door. That was a local police department. So the fact that they\u2019re saying that they want to ban no-knock warrants, knowing they cannot ban no-knock warrants tells me that this is not about the underlying issue. It\u2019s bigger than that. I said well, I\u2019ll give you an amendment, though, and we can have that fight on the floor of the United States Senate. As a matter of fact, I said, tell me any issue you have with the legislation. Well, we went to de-escalation training, the duty to intervene, best practices. I said in the legislation, in the legislation, in the legislation. You know, I don\u2019t have any hair so I didn\u2019t pull it out. Here\u2019s where I said: let\u2019s talk about tactics then. They said you don\u2019t ban chokeholds. I could have sworn I banned chokeholds in there somewhere.\n\nAnd then I read the bill. They don\u2019t ban chokeholds on the local level, the state level. You know why? There\u2019s this little thing called the constitution. They can\u2019t ban chokeholds. Eric Garner\u2019s situation would not have been cured by their ban on chokeholds because their ban on chokeholds were for federal agents. Our legislation instructed the attorney general to ban chokeholds for federal agents. And what else did we do? Well, we said we would reduce funding by 20%. They reduced funding by 10%. So our penalty was twice the penalty of the other side, and this is supposed to be an issue.\n\nMr. President, I\u2019m not sure we have found the issue. We haven\u2019t. It\u2019s not chokeholds. It\u2019s not the duty to intervene, data collection. I sat there meeting with them. They said \u201cSenator, it\u2019s your definition of chokeholds.\u201d That\u2019s a problem. See, I assume that when you think of chokeholds, you think of a chokehold. But there is a distinction of the carotid air flow versus blood flow. Ours only covered one, not the other. I said okay, you have an amendment. I\u2019ll vote for it. We\u2019ll change it. They said we\u2019re not here to talk about that. Wait a second. If we\u2019re not here to debate the issue on the motion to proceed so that we can not fix 50% of the bill, not 70% of the bill, but literally slivers, slight changes on parts of the bill that would move this entire process forward.\n\nYou have the amendments to do so. I even said something that I didn\u2019t think I would say. I said what about a managers\u2019 amendment. Let\u2019s just fix everything in one fail swoop. They said no thank you. So I find it disingenuous when people say why don\u2019t you sit down with one member and work it out. If a manager\u2019s amendment won\u2019t do it, if the five amendments \u2014 five things in the letter they said they wanted fixed won\u2019t do it, if twenty amendments won\u2019t do it, you have an open process on the United States senate that requires us 60 votes to get off of the bill, then what, pray tell, is the problem? Well, I finally realized what the problem is, Mr. President. The actual problem is not what is being offered. It is who is offering it. Took me a long time to figure out the most obvious thing in the room. It\u2019s not they what.\n\nI\u2019ve listened to the press conferences. I\u2019ve read the newspapers. I\u2019m not sure anyone who is actually reporting on the bill has actually read the bill. Because the next time I see another story or editorial that says we don\u2019t do this. Their bill does that. And you put the two together and it\u2019s not just off, it\u2019s just dead wrong. So I realized finally it\u2019s the who that\u2019s offering this. Now, I have dealt with the problem of who before.\n\nAs a black man, I get the who being the problem. It\u2019s one of the reasons why I went to Senator McConnell and said I want to lead this conversation. I\u2019m the person in our conference who has experienced firsthand racial discrimination, racial profiling by law enforcement, and I\u2019m still a fan because I believe most law enforcement officers are good. But I\u2019m the guy, I am your guy, Mitch, because this is my issue. This is an issue for every poor kid growing up in every poor neighborhood in this nation who feels like when I leave my home for a jog, I might not come back. This is a serious issue. This is an issue for every single kid who says is this my country?\n\nWe\u2019ve heard no. This is the issue that we should be solving, not the legislative issue. That\u2019s not the issue. The issue is do we matter? We had an opportunity to say you matter so much, we\u2019ll stay on this floor for as long as it takes and as many amendments as it takes for us to get to the issue that says yes, you matter. But we said no today. 56 people said yes. Four short, four short of saying yes. Yes to having enough information to direct training and resources in such a way that we could hold people accountable.\n\nWe were four votes short of saying yes to having a powerful tool of pooling resources to compel behavior on choke holds. Because I believe if we\u2019d gotten on the bill, we would have passed this bill. But that is the problem, by the way. That\u2019s the who I\u2019m talking about. As a black guy, I know how it feels to walk into a store and have the little clerk follow me around, even as a United States Senator. I get that. I\u2019ve experienced that. I understand the traffic stops. I understand that when I\u2019m walking down the street and some Young lady clutches on to her purse and my instinct is to get a little further away because I don\u2019t want any issues with anybody, I understand that.\n\nBut what I missed in this issue is that the stereotyping of Republicans is just as toxic and poison to the outcomes of the most vulnerable communities in this nation. That\u2019s the issue. When Speaker Pelosi says one of the most heinous things I can imagine: that the Republicans are actually trying to cover up murder, the murder of Feorge Floyd with our legislation, that\u2019s not politics. That\u2019s not a game to win. That\u2019s you lose. You will sooner or later lose. But immediately every kid around the nation that heard that nonsense lost that moment.\n\nYou see, what\u2019s become evident to me is that she knows something that we all know. She knows that she can say that because the democrats have a monopoly on the black vote. And no matter the return on their loyalty \u2014 I am telling you the most loyal part of the democrat construct, black communities. And no matter the loyalty of the people, the return they get will always continue to go down because in monopolies, you start devaluing your customer. You see, today we could have given at the very minimum 70% of what they say would be important for the people we say we serve. But instead of having a debate on that today and getting not five amendments but 20 amendments, a managers amendment, instead of going forward and getting what you want now, they\u2019ve decided to punt this ball until the election. You know why?\n\nBecause they believe that the polls reflect a 15-point deficit on our side. Therefore they can get the vote they want in November. All they have to do is win the election. Then roll in January and they get the chance to write the police reform bill without our support at all. Well, this is what they did in the House, right? No amendments in the house from Republicans on their bill. We\u2019re saying amendments on our side. Democrats are saying no amendments in the House but you, here in the United States Senate because we are the world\u2019s greatest deliberative body, you can have amendments. Not in the House. Not under Speaker Pelosi. But under leader McConnell, you get at least 20 amendments. I\u2019ll throw in the managers amendment, too. That was not good enough because the irony of the story is not the bill. The irony of the story is that today and through the rest of June and all of July, what we\u2019re going to have here is, instead of getting 70% of what you wanted or more, you\u2019re going to get zero.\n\nHow is that for a return? How is that for loyalty? How does that work for the little kid at a home in North Charleston where Walter Scott got shot? How does that work around the country when instead of getting 70% of what you wanted, today and tomorrow and next week you get zero. And you\u2019re going to wait until the election to get more. Okay. Well, why wouldn\u2019t you take the 80% now, see if you can win the election and add on the other 20%. You\u2019ve got to be kidding me. Because the who matters, they cannot allow this party to be seen as a party that reaches out to all communities in this nation, and unfortunately without the kind of objectivity in the media that is necessary to share the message of what\u2019s actually happening, no one will ever know.\n\nBecause if you don\u2019t read it in the paper, it must not have happened. If you don\u2019t see it on tv, NBC or CNN, it must not be true. That\u2019s a problem. Let me just say this. I think we are willing to be for every vote, everywhere, all the time. That might not be true in every corridor of the nation, but it\u2019s true in most corridors of the nation. And this party has reinforced that truth, not by the words coming out of my mouth, but by the actual legislation signed into law. Senator Perdue started talking about the important work that we did on opportunity zones, and i\u2019m going to wrap it up in two minutes here. It\u2019s lunch time. 2017, we passed tax reform.\n\nI included in the opportunity zones $75 billion, real money, to the most distressed communities in this nation. How did that happen? Well, me andPresident Trump had a serious disagreement on his comments after Charlottesville. He being a person that I was not looking forward to having a conversation with, invited me to the oval office. I sat down there and I said what do you want to talk about? The president said tell me about your perspective on racial history. I was stunned because if you know President Trump like I know President Trump, his love language is not words of encouragement. It just ain\u2019t. It\u2019s not. But he listened. And at the end of our conversation, he simply said tell me how to help those I have offended. I didn\u2019t know what to say. So I pulled out of my back pocket opportunity zones. I didn\u2019t go in prepared for him to listen. It\u2019s not supposed to be funny, but it is. I mean, I didn\u2019t expect him to listen. But he did. He listened.\n\nHe leaned in and he said tell me how to help the folks I have offended. Let\u2019s work on opportunity zones together. He said yes. I said what? He said yes. He was concerned enough about the communities he had literally just offended, he was concerned enough to go to work on their behalf, and that\u2019s why we have opportunity zones. I thought well, this might work again. So I went back to the president and said, you know, there is a lot of work that needs to be done around the HBCU\u2019s, historically black colleges and universities. He said yes. He said yes.\n\nWe said yes. And let me just say this. When we started saying yes, we controlled the White House, we controlled the Senate, and we controlled the House. So it wasn\u2019t because some Democrat came over here and said in order to get our votes, you have to do this. That\u2019s not what happened. He said yes because the Republican Party said yes.\n\nWe stood together with all three leaders of government under our control \u2014 all three levers of government under our control. We got the opportunity zones done. We started the process of reinvesting in historically black colleges and universities. And the head of the united negro college fund said at my last fly-in that this is a record level of funding ever. His words, not mine. I\u2019m not sure what ever is. Maybe that\u2019s longer than I have been alive. Literally more money for HBCU\u2019s ever. Brought to you by the Republican Party.\n\nI said well, if that\u2019s working, let\u2019s do it again. So we went to stem cell research, stem cell research for sickle cell anemia, which is 100% basically \u2014 a 99. 95% African American disease. He said yes. Lamar Alexander, the head, the chairman of our help committee, we were fighting over funding for HBCU\u2019s. We made it permanent, permanent funding for the HBCU\u2019sled by a Republican chairman of the education committee, president trump signs it. We have delivered historic funding and permanent funding for HBCU\u2019s. I\u2019m not going to go to the \u2014 because i\u2019m running out of time. I\u2019m not going to go through the pre-pandemic numbers in minority communities for unemployment. Unemployment not only had a record low but we had labor force participation rates increasing. Let me say that differently.\n\nNot only did we get more jobs for Black folks and Brown folks, the number of folks in the community started having an increase in the number of folks working. This is called basic Conservative politics. It works. Seven million new jobs, two-thirds with African Americans, Hispanics, and women. And in a full economy, all boats started rising. Don\u2019t believe me. Check your accounts. That\u2019s what it looks like.\n\nCovid-19 hit us, and what did we do? We not only approved $2. 3 trillion and then another $500 billion or so, and 3-point \u2014 $450 billion that would be multiplied in the commercial facilities by probably seven or eight. $6 trillion relief package. But what did we do inside that package? We targeted small businesses to save small businesses, and, by the way, we added a billion dollars for historically black colleges and universities. Let me tell you what the biggest threat is. The biggest threat is that this Republican Party keeps showing up and delivering. I have got 12 more pages to go. It\u2019s like being at church with third closing. Literally, I have got 12 more pages of accomplishments to talk about.\n\nI\u2019m not going to talk about it. Don\u2019t look relieved. I\u2019m not going to talk about it. I\u2019m just here to tell you that if we\u2019re going to be serious about criminal justice reform and we passed it with the house, the Senate, and theWhite House in the hands of Republicans. We passed criminal justice reform to make up for the democrat bill, the 1994 crime bill that locked up disproportionately African American men.\n\nThe Republican party passed criminal justice reform. With all relievers in our hands. I\u2019m frustrated. I\u2019m frustrated. Because it\u2019s not a competition for the best ideas. It\u2019s not a competition for how to improve the poorest performing schools in America in the public education system that is consistently in Black and Brown communities, that your zip code determines the outcome of your life because you\u2019re not going to have a good education because we won\u2019t \u2014 we won\u2019t touch teachers unions, we won\u2019t touch education in the way that it needs to be touched. Governor Scott did before he was a senator. It\u2019s one of the reasons I went down there and campaigned for him because he was serious about helping poor kids get up and move on.\n\nLet me just close with this. I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s going to take to wake up our entire nation about the importance of a duopoly and not a monopoly. Because look at your results. Look at the results you are getting. And by the way, when this bill is gone and next week we\u2019re on the D. O. D. or something else, we\u2019ll forget about this. We\u2019ll move on. People will forget about it. And you know what\u2019s going to happen? Something bad. And we\u2019ll be right back here talking about what should have been done, what could have been done, why we must act now.\n\nI\u2019m telling you I had this conversation five years ago. I\u2019m having this conversation right now. We could do something right now. You know, here\u2019s the truth. In Detroit, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, all these cities could have banned choke holds themselves. They could have increased the police reporting themselves. They could have more data information themselves. They could have de-escalation training themselves. They could have duty to intervene themselves, Minneapolis as well.\n\nAll these communities have been run by Democrats for decades. Decades. What is the R. O. I. For the poorest people in this nation? And I don\u2019t blame them. I blame an elite political class with billions of dollars to do whatever they want to do and look at the results for the poorest, most vulnerable people in our nation.\n\nI\u2019m willing to compete for their vote. Are you?\n\nBoth the JUSTICE Act and the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, the House Democrats\u2019 bill, make lynching a federal crime, call for increased data collection, more training for law enforcement officials and incentives for law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, and creates a national criminal justice commission.\n\nThe full text of the JUSTICE Act is available here, and a section by section analysis can be found here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-28T00:12:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/senator-tim-scott-delivers-fiery-speech-on-senate-floor-after-senate-democrats-stonewall-legislation-on-police-reform-across-america/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.816109986975789, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}