McManus: Both parties fail on police reform

Each side denounced the other, and a once-bipartisan goal suddenly appeared unreachable.

It was only one legislative failure among many; Congress’ reputation for gridlock has been richly earned.

But this one was a special tragedy. Most of the public, reacting to the gruesome video of Floyd’s death, wanted legislation. Republicans and Democrats who spoke to each other — a minority on Capitol Hill — said they believed compromise was possible. What went wrong? Both sides behaved badly. Each surrendered to internal political pressures.

That wasn’t surprising, especially in an election year, but it was still disappointing. This bill could have been an exception to the rule.

I called Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who usually votes with Democrats, to find out why the bipartisan push failed. King had voted with Republicans to allow McConnell’s bill to move forward.

“I think there was space for a compromise, and now I’m afraid we’re not going to get anything,” he said. “My concern was that if Democrats refused to go forward, McConnell would say, ‘OK, I tried,’ and move on — and that’s pretty much what happened.”

But King also faulted the Republican leader for refusing to let Democrats participate in drafting the bill. “The only way to get things done in the Senate is with a bipartisan process,” he said. “This was a bill on a very complex topic drafted by one party.”

Even as McConnell cut the Democrats out, he submitted his bill to the White House to make sure President Trump wouldn’t denounce it.

That’s a normal part of legislating — but in the process, some measures were watered down.

In the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic majority can pass bills without Republican help, a mirror-image process occurred: A Democratic bill passed with almost no GOP participation. It included bans on chokeholds and no-knock warrants, limits on police officers’ immunity from lawsuits and a publicly available database of police officers with disciplinary records.

On all those issues, King argued, compromises were possible. A bipartisan majority could agree to ban chokeholds except when a police officer’s life is in danger, strict restrictions on no-knock searches, and even perhaps stripping police officers’ immunity to lawsuits if they violate their departments’ policies.

There are two morals to this story — one all too familiar, the other less so.

The first is that in a polarized and closely divided Congress, bipartisan deals are almost impossible, especially in an election year.

But the countervailing message is also striking: On some issues, if the public demands action, both parties will try to respond.

That was true when Congress passed a series of bills to counter the economic shock of the coronavirus lockdowns. And it was true in Congress’ initial reaction to the death of George Floyd.

Like King, I think it would have been better if Senate Democrats had allowed McConnell’s bill to move ahead, and tested his promise that they could amend it on the floor.

They chose otherwise. Now McConnell can either walk away from the issue — or he can try again, with a bigger dose of bipartisanship. But only one force can compel the Senate leader and his colleagues to move: loud, sustained pressure from the public.