South Carolina Senator Tim Scott called out President Joe Biden after Biden appeared to reappropriate Scott’s police reform bill as an executive order.
Shortly after Joe Biden signed a new executive order on police reform in honor of George Floyd, Senator Scott released his own statement blasting the President for copying large amounts of his bill into the new EO.
“After the radical ‘defund the police’ movement helped create the current crime wave, President Biden is pursuing a partisan approach to many of the exact same policy solutions I proposed in the JUSTICE Act just two years ago,” Scott said in his statement.
Senator Scott then went after Democrat legislatures as a whole, who previously filibustered his bill in 2020 while painting it as “racist” against black people. “The fact is Democrats used a filibuster they call racist to block my reforms that they’re now embracing.
Scott also pointed out that Biden’s new action, while similar, impairs police and their ability to protect the community while his would reward them with more resources for doing their jobs correctly. The statement continues, “While my proposal added funding to help local law enforcement comply with higher standards, the Democrats’ proposal sets departments up for failure by issuing unfunded federal mandates. Making it harder for police to do their jobs to the best of their ability should be a nonstarter, yet that’s exactly what the Biden plan does.”
Then, as one final jab at the sitting President, Scott notes how his recent actions will only create more division in the country, saying, “I’m disappointed that the president who campaigned on unity has once again fallen into the trap of divisive politics.”
Similarities between the bill and the executive order include a directive to hire officers representative of the communities they police, the creation of a “National Law Enforcement Accountability Database” of officer misconduct and criminal actions, a “Use of Force” database on instances of excessive use of force, clear cut use of force standards, and new restrictions on federal agencies using “no-knock” warrants.
Scott has every right to be upset. Democrats are quick to praise Biden despite laws passed in Congress being significantly stronger than Executive Orders by design. Do you think Biden was aware of Sen Scott’s bill when he put together his Executive Order?
