WASHINGTON -- The brother of George Floyd delivered an emotional plea Wednesday for Congress to act to stop police violence against minority groups, formally launching the congressional effort to revamp laws after his brother's death at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked protests across the country.
With negotiations at both ends of the Capitol heightening, Philonise Floyd put a personal face on a death that had been, in his estimation, almost desensitized by the recurring loop of his older brother's video-recorded death on TV news.
"I couldn't take care of George that day he was killed, but maybe by speaking with you today, I can make sure that his death would not be in vain. To make sure that he is more than another face on a T-shirt. More than another name on a list that won't stop growing," Floyd told the House Judiciary Committee.
He went on to tell the panel that he was "tired of pain, pain you feel when you watch something like that, when you watch your big brother -- who you looked up to your whole life -- die, die begging for his mom."
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He added: "Stop the pain."
When it was not his turn to speak during the nearly six-hour hearing, Floyd wore a mask, part of the coronavirus safety response, that included an image of his brother. "It is on you to make sure his death wasn't in vain," he told the committee.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the committee, opened the session by reading the names of Floyd and several other black Americans who died in similar circumstances while outlining the legislation that Democrats unveiled Monday, shaped largely by the Congressional Black Caucus.
"We must act today to honor their memory," Nadler said.
BOTH SIDES
The Justice in Policing Act of 2020 would ban chokeholds, establish a national database to track police misconduct and prohibit some no-knock warrants, among other initiatives. The bill, which has more than 200 Democratic co-sponsors, contains several provisions that would make it easier to hold officers accountable for misconduct in civil and criminal court.
At the hearing, Republicans decried the "defund the police" movement that is growing in some cities, designed to dramatically overhaul local forces.
To illustrate their opposition to the looting and violence that happened during some of the protests after Floyd's death, Republicans called Angela Underwood Jacobs, whose brother Dave Patrick Underwood was killed in Oakland, Calif., while guarding a federal courthouse in California during the protests.
"Fear, hatred, ignorance and blind violence snatched the life of my brother Patrick from all of us," Jacobs said. "Every day the actions of a few are dividing us as a nation at a time when we should be coming together and uniting for the well-being of all people. We will never solve generational, systemic injustice with looting, burning, destruction of property and killing in the name of justice."
Lawmakers questioned a dozen witnesses, with testimony from officials from civil-rights organizations and law enforcement agencies, and from religious leaders. At an emotional point, Philonise Floyd and Jacobs were given an opportunity to talk about the personal ordeals of their brothers' recent deaths.
Floyd said the video of his brother's death, playing repeatedly, "felt like 8 hours 46 minutes" and that his family just keeps asking "why" it all happened, moved to tears as he spoke. "They just cry and cry every day."
"His life mattered. All our lives matter. Black lives matter," Floyd said. "I just, I just wish I could get him back."
Jacobs said she and Philonise Floyd are on "opposite ends" of the debate, because her brother wore a police uniform. But she said they both had the same objective at the hearing, getting Congress to produce the right legislation.
"If you can't get it right, there's no hope for the rest of us," she told lawmakers.
Later, Floyd pulled off his mask and told lawmakers that he was "too emotional" to continue discussing details about this brother's death. He spoke to Congress a day after his brother's funeral in Houston.
BIPARTISAN SUPPORT
Democrats said the hearing would begin several weeks of consideration, first in committee and then a full House floor debate, perhaps with a vote by the end of the month.
Despite this panel's recent partisan history -- it formally sent articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the full House in December -- a key Democrat found optimism that some Republican support could emerge for the legislation.
"Their theater is about defunding the police, which has nothing to do with the legislation, so that makes me a little hopeful that maybe there's room for us," Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., co-author of the proposal, said of the GOP complaints.
Bass, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she was "a little hopeful" after hearing one witness called by Republicans testify to all the abuse he faced growing up as a black man in Ohio.
Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Tom McClintock of California, voiced support for some proposals. Gaetz, a close Trump ally, said it was "fine time" to outlaw chokehold and promised "Republican cooperation" on some proposals.
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Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the "depravity" he saw in the video of Floyd's death "burned in my soul." He welcomed a new database and called for police chiefs to get rid of "bad apples."
However, the legislation still faces an uphill climb.
Senate Republicans have indicated that they are interested in coming up with their own proposals. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, a black Republican in the Senate, will be leading the effort, which included a meeting late Tuesday with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Jared Kushner, a senior presidential adviser.
DEFUNDING STANCE
Exiting Wednesday's Senate GOP luncheon, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voiced support for banning chokeholds and creating a national registry for violent police misconduct, as well as an idea floated by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to tie federal funding to police forces with good records.
"You're not going to get federal money if you don't best business practices," Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters.
Graham had not spoken to Trump about the issue and questioned whether Democrats were trying to get a political victory by having Republicans block proposals that have polled well in recent days.
"First thing I'll do is find out, are Democrats willing to work with us to find something, and then we'll go talk to him," Graham said.
To focus their attention on the "defund" issue, House Republicans included Daniel Bongino in their witness lineup. He is a conservative radio show host and a contributor to Fox News. A former police officer, he used his testimony to focus on the "defund" movement that he argued would "target these heroes" in police departments.
"Please stop this defund-the-police abomination before someone gets hurt," said Bongino, who ran for Congress three times over the past decade. He was a New York City officer before serving more than 10 years as a U.S. Secret Service agent.
"The American people understand that it's time for a real discussion," said Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the ranking Republican on the panel. But he said they also understand "it is pure insanity to defund the police."
The Rev. Darrell Scott, who is part of Trump's national diversity coalition, blasted activists' push to dismantle police departments as "one of the most unwise, irresponsible proposals" ever.
Scott noted that he, like many black men, has been pulled over by police for "driving while black," as he put it.
"I could very easily have been George Floyd," he testified. "However, I do not recommend throwing out the baby with the bathwater."
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Meanwhile, personal information of police officers in departments nationwide is being leaked online, according to an unclassified intelligence document from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, obtained by The Associated Press.
The document warns that the effort, known as "doxxing," could lead to attacks by "violent opportunists or domestic violent extremists" or could prevent law enforcement officials from carrying out their duties.
High-ranking police officials in a number of cities -- including Washington, Atlanta, Boston and New York -- have had their personal information posted on social media, including their home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers, the report warns.
"At least one of the police commissioners was targeted for his reported support of the use of tear gas to disperse protests," it says.
Police officials nationwide have spoken out lately saying they feel caught in the middle of trying to stop violent protests, and feel abandoned by lawmakers in the demand for police changes. Some have said they fear for their lives.
"Stop treating us like animals and thugs, and start treating us with some respect. We've been vilified. It's disgusting," New York State police union official Mike O'Meara said as lawmakers in New York State repealed a law known as Section 50-a that keeps police records secret.
Federal officials also identified posts that include specific personal information of several law enforcement officers in Kentucky and their family members, and included a link to a website that contained their full names, the names of their family members, home addresses, specific information about the vehicles they drive and online account log-in information, the report says.
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was killed by police who had served a no-knock search warrant at her Kentucky home on March 13 as part of a drug investigation. She was not the suspect they were seeking.
The personal information of another officer from San Jose, Calif., and his family was also posted online in a post that called for others to "do with this information what you will," the report said.
MOVES AFOOT
There is also growing bipartisan support for increasing the use of police body cameras, ending no-knock warrants -- police used one to enter the home of Taylor -- and making other changes to police practices and oversight.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday that Trump was still looking at different options. She said the administration was making "final edits" on a proposal for release "in the coming days."
The Democratic bill contains one proposal long sought by civil rights advocates. It would change "qualified immunity," the legal doctrine that shields officers from lawsuits, by lowering the bar for plaintiffs to sue officers for alleged civil rights violations.
Another section would change federal law so victims of excessive force or other violations need only show that officers "recklessly" deprived them of their rights. The current statute requires victims to show that officers' actions were "willful."
Its other provisions include formally making lynching a federal crime.
"Sitting here, coming to try to tell you all about how I want justice for my brother, I just think about that video over and over again," Floyd said in tears.
What happened to his brother, he said, was "a modern-day lynching in broad daylight."
In his opening statement, he explained the infraction that led to his brother's altercation with police, ending with an officer's knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes before he died. George Floyd was suspected of passing a counterfeit $20.
"I am asking you, is that what a black man's life is worth? Twenty dollars?" Philonise Floyd asked members of Congress. "This is 2020. Enough is enough. The people marching in the streets are telling you enough is enough."
Information for this article was contributed by Paul Kane of The Washington Post; by Lisa Mascaro, Andrew Taylor, Mary Clare Jalonick, Zeke Miller, Carrie Antlfinger, Michael Balsamo and Colleen Long of The Associated Press; and by Catie Edmondson of The New York Times.