The Democratic led House of Representatives passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which aims to prevent police misconduct.
The bill —named in honor of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis ex-cop kneeled on his neck— would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants, mandate data collection on police encounters, prohibit racial and religious profiling and redirect funding to community-based policing programs.
The bill passed on a 220-212 vote. Two Democrats Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Ron Kind of Wisconsin opposed the bill and one Republican Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas voted in support of the measure.
Gooden later said his vote was a mistake.
“Never again should an unarmed individual be murdered or brutalized by someone who is supposed to serve and protect them,” said Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., in a statement, according to NPR. “Never again should the world be subject to witnessing what we saw happen to George Floyd in the streets in Minnesota.”
The House passed the bill last year in the wake of George Floyd’s death, but it never passed in the Senate which was under Republican control then.
Now that Democrats control the Senate, Democrats in the House are hoping they can get the legislation passed but, there might not be enough Republican votes to over the filibuster.
