Comprehensive police reform package passes House 236 to 181

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), co-chair of the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus, today voted in favor of H.R.7120, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020. Co-sponsored by Pascrell, this landmark legislation will ban chokeholds during arrests, outlaw racial profiling, increase data collection and transparency, and make lynching a federal hate crime. He spoke on the House floor in favor of the reforms earlier this afternoon.

“Our nation today is at a great moral reckoning. The growing divide between our police and the public they are sworn to protect is unhealthy for public safety and untenable for democracy,” said Rep. Pascrell. “The Justice in Policing Act gives us both the tools and the systematic change needed to combat the pattern of brutality and racial injustice this moment demands. Our legislation will ban chokeholds. It will end racial profiling. It will finally make lynching a federal hate crime. And with its passage today, the House has loudly proclaimed: Black Lives Matter. Chairwoman Karen Bass and Senator Cory Booker have heroically led this effort and I am proud to have helped pass their legislation today.”

Joined by Rep. Val Demings (D-FL-10), former Chief of the Orlando Police Department, and Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ-01), a former Chicago Police Officer, last week Pascrell led a letter to all his House colleagues urging they support the bill.

Earlier this month, Rep. Pascrell penned a pressing op-ed in the Bergen Record on how Congress could lead the charge on needed police reforms. At a Juneteenth march in Paterson last week, Pascrell vowed to do everything in his power to see this bill passed into law. Pascrell also pledged his support for the bill earlier this month at a Black Lives Matter rally in Garfield, calling it a top priority in the coming weeks.