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President Donald Trump unveiled executive actions addressing police reform on Tuesday, as protests against police brutality and racism have rocked cities across the U.S. in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.
The executive order creates a tracking program for officers who have used excessive force; uses federal grants to encourage police departments to meet higher standards on use of force; and calls on law enforcement to involve mental-health professionals in certain cases.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said he was signing the order “to deliver a future of safety and security for Americans of every race, religion, color and creed.”
The president also strongly criticized calls to defund police departments, saying “without police, there is chaos.”
Trump said chokeholds are banned under the order, unless an officer’s life is at risk. As the Associated Press reports, chokeholds are already largely banned in police departments nationwide.
Trump has faced pressure to address police reform since Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans are also working on their own proposals. A bill in the Democratic-led House of Representatives would ban chokeholds, among other measures. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole black Republican in the Senate, is writing the GOP’s package, which includes greater use of police body cameras.
Read:House could act on bill to revamp policing in next few weeks, senior Democrat says.
Also see:Senate Republicans move to restrict chokeholds in emerging police-reform bill.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters he’ll announce Wednesday whether the Senate turns to the annual defense policy bill or policing as its next major piece of legislation.
Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, said the Senate had three priority items on its agenda before its month-long August break: policing, the defense bill and another coronavirus bill. He said he did not believe the last would be left undone by lawmakers before the break.
Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate’s top Democrat, said Trump’s order was “modest.”
“This executive order will not deliver the comprehensive meaningful change and accountability in our nation’s police departments that Americans are demanding,” Schumer said in a statement. “Congress needs to quickly pass strong and bold legislation with provisions that makes it easier to hold police officers accountable for abuses, and President Trump must commit to signing it into law,” Schumer added.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican leader, said in a statement after Trump’s announcement: “These are meaningful solutions, as opposed to Democrat efforts to defund the police and encourage anarchy.”
Jonathan Nicholson contributed to this story.
