Dear Friends,

George Floyd's murder at the end of May was but another in a long list of black lives lost to police brutality. The protests that followed—weeks of sustained, nationwide anger, with millions of voices joining into one to demand deep-seated, systemic changes to American policing—made it very clear that meaningful action needed to be taken.

The House's legislative response to the scourge of racist police brutality was crafted specifically to deliver that comprehensive reform. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020, which I led through the House Judiciary Committee, would overhaul our nation's system of law enforcement, banning violent practices and instituting systems of accountability that would restore the public's trust in the police. It would establish a national police misconduct registry, ensuring violent police officers can't simply move to another jurisdiction and continue to work as police officers after being fired for bad behavior, it would ban chokeholds like the one that killed Eric Garner, carotid holds like the one that killed George Floyd, and no-knock warrants like the one that resulted in Breonna Taylor’s death, and it would reform qualified immunity. Simply put, it would be the most sweeping piece of policing reform legislation to ever be enacted into law.

I was deeply proud when the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 passed the House with bipartisan support. But the policy changes within the bill cannot be enacted unless the Senate takes up the bill and passes it. The House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act over two weeks ago, and the Senate has done nothing. It's clear that we need to place pressure on Majority Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans to take action.

Please visit JusticeInPolicing.us to learn more about the bill and to add your name as a citizen consponsor. If you sign up by July 23, your name will be included in the Congressional Record.

This bill—and the justice it delivers—is so important. We must continue working for it to become law.