The bill written by the caucus with banned chokehold and include National Accountability standards which she said had the support of the fraternal order of police. Jonathon good afternoon and welcome to Washington Post live. I am jonathon capehart. Congresswoman karen bass of california is the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and in that role she is leading the charge to implement unprecedented Police Reform to curb Police Brutality and racial profiling and eliminate qualified immunity as part of the justice in policing act or as it is going to be renamed next week, the George Floyd Justice in policing act. Now, the hard part. Getting these historic changes past. Congresswoman karen bass come at great to see you and thank you for being here. Let us talk about atlanta and the shooting this weekend of rayshard brooks. Back ofce in the according to the medical examiner. How does this shooting fit in with that of george floyd in minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in louisville . Rep. Bass it was just such a tragedy. It just leaves everyone distraught. I will tell you the big difference is that he clearly engaged in a fight and then he ran and he turned around and at least it looked as though he turned around with the taser. Whye question here is were the Police Involved at all . I mean, what he had done is fall asleep in a takeout line. Why did they call the police on him . And when they did, why did it as the late to the point of them engaging in a fight . And so coming you saw the community reaction. It pains me every time i see the violence but i do think it raises questions about policing which is one of the things about the bill. Raceill hopefully will discussions about standards, accountability, accreditation, etc. Jonathon can we talk about training . Maybe the police are trained differently than the rest of us im sure they are but it seems common sense that you would go tap on the window and buddy, are you ok . Or call a tow truck. Policee bill address training in such a way that it either mandates or recommends that Police Departments train the officers in deescalation as opposed to what was to my laypersons mind, always jumping to some sort of force in dealing with the public. Rep. Bass the first thing they would try to do is establish whether he was under the influence if when you think about it, im not sure why. They could have told him to pull over. R poll over and call an uber a lot of Different Things could have happened there. You hit on several points included in the bill. The bill is an attempt in one way to get appellees culture. But it call for training calls for standards, accountability. Why is it that a chokehold is ok in one city and not in another . With a rather long beating the for turnover order of police and they are very supportive of National Standards and in fact, asked for our help. From their point of view, there are 18,000 Police Departments around the country and they have been trying, the fraternal order of police, has been trying to get the departments to buy into a National Standards and of accreditation but they have been doing it on a retail basis. They say if you are able to pass this legislation, it will help us because this is what we have been trying to do all along. Jonathon speaking of the fraternal order of police, i am a former new york really news editorial writer and the police union in new york is powerful. The Police Unions in cities around the country are powerful. Justice inorge floyd policing act address any issues related to Police Contracts where accountability comes into play . Rep. Bass it does not address the union contracts. It does not. What you should know that the unions are definitely contacting us and are interested in reform. This is a real critical moment in our country and i think that they understand that people are the country, 70 , believe that the protesters have a legitimate reason to protest. People want change. This is one of those moments, in of these time periods history and the door is open a little bit and we have to absolutely rush through. People are protesting every day and i feel we have to deliver and frankly, that is also how i felt when the shooting happened in atlanta. It makes me feel that we have to work faster. We have to show people that we are serious. This is not just a message bill but a bill that we have to pass into law. And right after we introduced it , i heard from many of my republican colleagues. We were in discussions over the weekend and before the weekend i mccarthy, thein republican leader, we go back to sacramento days. There is tremendous interest. Jonathon you touched on a lot of things. When i talked to you last week for a column you mentioned that various aspects of this bill aftereen sought particularly by the black congressional caucus for the last 40 years. Inn the bill goes for markup the Judiciary Committee on wednesday, do you have any indicator of which pieces will come out of committee . All of itgoal to get out of committee on wednesday . Rep. Bass this bill will be passed out of committee on wednesday, all of it, together. Im hoping some of my republican colleagues come on board but frankly, i think it is a little too soon for them. I think they are trying to sort through things themselves. I would like to think we could have republican support that fast but i do think it will take some time. Off week, we will pass it the floor. I hope then we can garner some more republican support. Tim scott is introducing his bill on tuesday. A colleague of mine in the house is not introducing exactly tims bill but one that is close. Jonathon i dont know if you mentioned it when you were talking about the bill, but the bill would start a federal registry of Police Misconduct and require states to report use of force to the u. S. Justice department. I have a question here from john murphy from pennsylvania who wanted to know when will the house lift the funding ban on Gun Violence Research . Is that anywhere in here or part of the discussion . Rep. Bass it is not. We dont deal with that in this bill but we did in earlier legislation. Jonathon ok. And you were just talking about how you have heard from House Minority leader kevin mccarthy, your fellow congressman from california. But no other House Republicans have been in touch . Dont have anywe republican cosponsor is right now. I have been in conversations with lots of republicans. Either oneonone or in group chats. We have been talking about it. A couple of my colleagues were former Law Enforcement officers or their children were Law Enforcement officers. A couple of things they feel very strongly about includes training and the registry. Bill that will a be supported by Police Departments. I dont think any Police Officer wants to work next to somebody who they know is abusing the public or who is corrupt but Police Culture does not allow them to intervene. You saw the 75yearold man who was not down. The police later reported that he was tripped. He did not. He was pushed. But if you remember in that video, one of the officers pursued the man and the other officer pulled him away. Or the young man that drowned and the Police Officer went to help him and another officer pulled him away allowing the young man to drown. It is that kind of culture we want to have that. You think about police that is the one profession that can kill and you would think that a profession with that power would be accredited. Your hairstylist is accredited. Policeuldnt the departments be accredited . And that is where i have found the most support from Police Unions and the fraternal order of police, the National Association of police chiefs. We have all been in conversation with each other. Jonathon part of the conversation here when it comes to talking about Police Reform, obviously the big mantra defund the police. Part of the conversation has now become dont take it literally. Everyone has a different interpretation of what that means. You said already you are against the funding the police. But what is your definition . What is a better alternative . Rep. Bass i told some friends that that is probably one of the worst slogans ever but anyway, Police Officers are the first ones to say that they are Law Enforcement officers and not social workers. What we have done in our country is we have not invest it in health come us social, and economic problems in communities and we leave the police to pick up the pieces. In my city for example, on any given night, we have over 40,000 people that are homeless. Why should the police the involved in that . A substanceng about abuse issue or someone with intellectual challenges, why should Police Officers have to clean up societies problems . One of the main points i think the Defund Movement is making is that cities and states, the priorities are lopsided. A large percentage of the city enforcement. O law they are saying, why doesnt the city deal with the social problems so not so much money has to go to Law Enforcement . And within the bill, we do have a Grant Program where communitybased organizations can apply to come up with Innovative Solutions or strategies about Law Enforcement in their particular communities. You mentioned your city, los angeles. I want to talk to you about seattle. Republicans have been targeting in autonomous protest zone seattle asking if this is what citizens want in their cities. What do you think . Rep. Bass the group in seattle doing that i think is ok but seriously, a city cannot run that way. If you have a small corner of the city that chooses to do that. But i do believe the mayor and the chief of police as i have heard them on the news certainly know and see that that autonomous zone will last for a very short period of time. If the neighborhood wants to experience with that, i think that is fine but you cannot run a city without making sure that everyone in the city is a. I am a big proponent about the , you do needbetter police. You do need someone to help. But i think what we have done over time is we have d ivested so much of the safety net that we believe the police in an unfair position. One of the main reasons that police get into physical conflict that have terrible results is because they are interact with people with mental interacting with people with mental illness. It is not fair. Jonathon with regards to seattle, President Trump has called them ugly anarchist. Anarchists. And he threatened to move in as he did a couple of weeks ago during a lot of the protest over the killing of george floyd. What is your view . Is this helping or hurting your bill getting past . Rep. Bass honestly, i dont if any of us are paying attention to him regarding the bill getting past. I dont see my republican colleagues repeating that. I believe they are looking for a constructive path. I think it is best to ignore him. It does concern me that he is notorious for fanning the flames. He is getting ready to make a speech on race. I dont know what good can come from that has i dont know what he could say that would be positive. And i hear the speech is being written by stephen. What does that bring us except for an antiimmigrant message . What i guess he is going to do is talk about africanamericans and all of the wonderful things he has done for us and then try to pit us against immigrants. Jonathon i want to come back to President Trump in tulsa in a second what have you heard come as a result of putting together and working on the George Floyd Justice in policing act, have you had any communication with the white house . Rep. Bass yes. And i do believe there are people there who want to see a solution and so there is a variety of different proposals that are out there. We will see where we land but i have spoken to them. Jonathon President Trump in tulsa and you did a great review of what you think he might say in that speech which was originally scheduled for juneteenth but it was moved to june 20. You have a clear view into what the president might say because you were one of the delegations werethe cbc before you chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus to go to the white house to meet with President Trump. With i willin call it a black agenda, but you suggested what the president should focus on. Talk about that meeting and what progress if any has been made on the list of things that you handed to the president. You rememberre, if the origin of the meeting was when he was asked by a reporter if he had contacted the cbc. So we went. And remember, what he said during the campaign is what do you have the lose . Page document that began with black history. Billso had a variety of we wanted to see if the white house would be interest in. And then we wanted to follow up the meeting with a meeting with cabinet secretary. But after the meeting, there was no communication. We made numerous requests to meet with the cabinet secretaries and that never happened. Jonathon wow. President , byhe choosing his first rally after the quarantine of coronavirus, his first rally in tulsa, site of the tulsa massacre, do you think he is dog whistling or is he pulling out a straight on bullhorn to send a white supremacist message to some of his followers . Rep. Bass it is very hard for me to not see that as a bullhorn. Maybe at the beginning they did not understand the sick that thickens understand the significance of june 19. It was pointed out. There was tremendous pushback and bats when they decided to change the date. That and that is when they decided to change the date. Forget, thefore i incident in Lafayette Square. The president had pushback from the photo op. More of is reporting the details on the planning and execution. As lawenforcement personnel from the secret service, park police, National Guard we are now learning that there were guards from a u. S. Penitentiary in hazelton, West Virginia who were there. Well Congress Investigate rep. Bass yes. Jonathon and could you talk about why it is troubling that federal penitentiary officers were involved in what happened in Lafayette Square . Rep. Bass congress is going to investigate. That is not a committee that i serve on but it will be the Oversight Committee and i know they are planning a hearing on it. What i think is worth was the fact that people did not know who those folks were. There were a lot of Law Enforcement officers there who had no identification whatsoever. You did not even know if they were Law Enforcement or rogue militia. That is a very scary thing. Why they would bring them in, i have no idea. They had the National Guard. I dont know why did you needed to bring anyone else in but very frightening. Tulsa,n with respect to and coronavirus, one of the things we also know is that tulsa officials have been pleading please do not come here with this rally. Is the United States are states opening up too soon . That it isting certainly putting the American Population at risk. But, talk about what this means for africanamericans who have borne the brunt of this pandemic. Rep. Bass let me just say, jonathan what i think is going isis that the administration not being public about this. I think they are adopting a herd immunity standards. Let everyone get exposed. What we used to do years ago with chickenpox. When you had a child, you would intentionally expose them to get the virus and i think that is the policy the administration has adopted. Veryherd immunity, that is frightening because they are not saying that. We know the death rate has been extremely disproportionate among africanamericans, Asian Americans africanamericans and hispanic americans. You have heard the president say on several occasions the people getting sick are older, those with other health conditions. It is shocking and so tragic to me that he does not seem to be able to muster any empathy at losing over 100,000 americans. They are dead in the last three months. You kind of have to say that a couple of times to let that register. Jonathon and with the new report out of harvard predicting that we could have another 100,000 dead by the end of the summer. Emails revealed in a lawsuit last week, including emails showing the politicization of the cdcs response after the president was of that when their top doctors were saying that the coronavirus will spread in heavy wary. But what can you and congress due to assure the American People that the Health Information from the cdc is not tainted . Tainteds not only not but we are trying to get the Health Information. One of the things we passed when from the the cares act Congressional Black Caucus we have been very concerned about deathisproportionate rates. We believe there needs to be a specific intervention in those communities. The problem is, where do you intervene if you do not have the data to know where the intervention is needed . We did pass legislation that required the cdc to come forward with some of the demographics and to get information within 21 days. The head of the cdc publicly apologized for the report they submitted because it basically had no information. Jonathon congresswoman, how damaging would it be if the United States had to lock down, have everyone stayathome at home and shut down the economy again . Rep. Bass it would be very damaging and devastating but again, over 100,000 people we have lost. We have to do something extreme. Here you have the United States, the most developed and richest country in the world and we never got a handle on this in the beginning which is why it is so bad. One of the things that happen in the Obama Administration was that we faced a potential pandemic then with ebola. Obama mobilized the entire world and ebola did not even spread in africa. It settled in three countries. The World Health Organization predicted a Million People would die. 11,000 people died. I was on the phone with the ambassador from india they have had 6000 people died. E. There is no reason except for the fact that is pandemic was handled inappropriately from the very beginning. It ballooned and we have never been able to get back in control of it. , we are congresswoman running out of time but i cannot let you go without talking politics. The president ial election season Vice President biden is the Presumptive Democratic nominee. Who do you think he should pick for Vice President . Nominatee is going to a woman. Should it be a black woman . Rep. Bass im very excited that he made the commitment to hire a woman and of course, i wanted to be a black woman. At this time in our country where there is such awareness the majority of the people in the streets are majority white and i get excited seeing the black lives matter tshirts. I think a black woman would not just galvanized the black community but also this new movement out there. Im excited and i am doing the countdown. And i said at the beginning of the year, if we did not fix this in november, we would have to pay for the next two generations. Now, i think it is a matter of life or death. Jonathon what do you say to people when they say that Vice President biden has to choose between someone that can help him win the midwest and someone that can help him with in busy as them among africanamericans . Are those two things mutually exclusive . Theybass i do not think are mutually exclusive. I think the Vice President needs to pick somebody he is comfortable with and can help him lead the nation. Been threehere has stories in the last few days regarding the Vice President ial when it comes to africanamericans. Congresswoman val demings, senator, let harris, ambassador senator,ce k harris,is kamala ambassador susan rice. My question to you, madam chairwoman, have you been bytact did contacted anyone from the Biden Campaign to talk about vp . To be clear, you. Rep. Bass let me just tell you that i have been really honored to hear my name come up in the last few days but the answer is no. Anathon and it is not unreasonable question because you are the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus and you have been a congresswoman for five terms. But you also were the speaker of the California Assembly with Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor. Peoplenderstandable that would look and say what about karen bass . If they were to call you, would you take the call . Rep. Bass of course, i would take the call and i would be extremely honored. [laughter] jonathon i had to ask. Congresswoman karen bass from california, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, thank you very much for being here today. Thank you. T woul washington journal come every day we are taking your calls on the issues. Coming up tuesday morning, Reuters Supreme Court reporter on mondays high profile rolling that lgbtq workers are protected from job discrimination. And on the ongoing impact of the pandemic on the economy and u. S. Markets. And connecticut democratic senator Richard Blumenthal talks about stopping the spread of disinformation on social media. Enforcement Education Foundation and former republican congresswoman congressman bob barr discusses Police Reform. Watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern tuesday morning. He sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, Text Messages and tweet. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy events. You can watch all of cspans Public Affairs programming on television, online, or listen on our free cspan radio app. And be part of the public conversation through our social media feeds. Cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Ruled 63reme court it is illegal for employers to fire a person for being gay or transgender. The court heard an oral argument for two consolidated cases federal civilther rights law protects against Sexual Orientation discrimination. The cases come from georgia and new york. , a welfarerald bost. Services for nader for Clayton County georgia was allegedly let go or conduct unbecoming of its employees. In 2010, donald, a skydiving instructor with attitude expressed filed a lawsuit alleging he was fired because of his Sexual Orientation after he revealed to a client that he was gay. This oral argument is just over an hour
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