As George Floyd Act's chances dim, Biden stays mum on police reform

Tamika Palmer expected a call from the White House by now.

The mother of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2020, recalls Joe Biden evoking her daughter's name during his presidential candidacy last year, as millions seized the streets demanding police reform.

"I definitely think that he used those things – and the people behind those things – to run his campaign," Palmer said of the president. "And so I'm at a point where now it's time to act on the things you said."

When Biden's campaign was at its lowest ebb, African Americans resurrected his presidential bid in the early months of 2020, he acknowledged, noting in his victory speech in November that Black voters "stood up again for me."

"You've always had my back," Biden said. "And I'll have yours."

Police reform proponents have begun to question Biden's commitment, arguing he hasn't done enough to convey the urgency of holding law enforcement agencies accountable as he's focused on voting rights, infrastructure and the surge of violent crime that has swept the country.

A USA TODAY analysis found that Biden mentioned police reform, George Floyd and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act – landmark legislation that came out of protesters' demands – at least 26 times in the initial months of his term, yet he has been mum the past month as Congress approached its August recess without a deal on the bill.

Activist Al Sharpton said Biden should use "the bully pulpit of the White House" to push police reform.

"The lawmakers make the law, but the president sets the tone," Sharpton told USA TODAY.

The White House is walking a tightrope heading into the 2022 midterm elections as Republicans claw at Democrats over the uptick in crime and liberals' calls to slash police budgets. If the president's party loses control of Congress, Biden will lose opportunities to pass more of his sweeping agenda.

As George Floyd protests dim, namesake legislation drags

In the president's first address to a joint session of Congress in April, Biden urged lawmakers to pass the bill named for Floyd by the first anniversary of his murder.

May 25 came and went, and the bill that would mandate police dashboard cameras and ban racial profiling and chokeholds, like the one Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin used on Floyd, remains in limbo in the Senate.

Lawmakers are in a tug-of-war over some of the bill’s thornier parts, such as ending qualified immunity, which protects government officials, including police officers, from being sued for constitutional violations.

USA TODAY was told by Capitol Hill sources that lawmakers are willing to negotiate, but progress has slowed over the past few weeks.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said Tuesday that negotiations continue on the policing overhaul amid reports that three people were charged with shooting two Chicago police officers, one of whom died. Scott said the latest violence highlighted the need to get the legislation right.

“I had hoped that we would be done by now, but we are still trading paper and making incremental progress literally,” Scott said. “Because we keep making that progress, we keep chugging along. It’s just a painfully slow process.”

Powerful police groups and trade associations said eliminating qualified immunity is a nonstarter, arguing it would expose officers and police departments to frivolous lawsuits.

Advocacy groups accused police organizations of making unreasonable demands that would make it more difficult to hold bad actors accountable. Others said they're open to have a smaller version of the bill passed, which would allow lawmakers to table the more contentious parts of the bill for next year.

Black Lives Matter, defund the police and Biden's silence

Some activists who are frustrated with the state of negotiation partly blame Biden’s reticence.

“If he were to put the same sort of weight of the White House … on police accountability and broader criminal justice reform, then I think we would be in a different place," said Udi Ofer, deputy national political director for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The president was more vocal about Floyd and police legislation when a jury convicted Chauvin in April and on the anniversary of Floyd's death in May, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Biden's statements, remarks, interviews and tweets.

In the past month, Biden has not publicly called for the passing of the police reform bill.

The last time he did so was in a tweet July 8 before a meeting with Black civil rights organizations. A readout of the meeting says the group talked about voting rights and the status of the bill.

Biden has been silent on qualified immunity, arguably the bill's most controversial component.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in April the president "believes the bar for convicting officers is far too high. It needs to be changed."

On the anniversary of Floyd's death, the president ducked a reporter's question about his position on the issue. "The negotiations are taking place now. In case you haven't figured me out by now, I never negotiate in public like others do," Biden said.

Biden has talked and tweeted about systemic racism at least 15 times and racial justice at least seven times but mentioned Taylor only twice since taking office, once in a tweet on March 13, the anniversary of her death.

In all the remarks, statements and interviews published by the White House since January, the words "Black Lives Matter" appeared only once – in a reporter's question.

Biden talked about the movement to defund police twice since taking office, each time saying he does not favor it. On July 21 at a town hall, Biden said he "never, never" supported defunding the police.

In a USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll in July, 7 in 10 respondents supported increasing police department budgets; 62% said some of the police budgets should be used to fund community policing and social services; and 22% supported "defund the police."

FAQ: What does 'defund the police' actually mean?

Unpopular message: Is 'defund the police' Obamacare 2.0 for Democrats in 2022?

Behind the scenes: Biden's dealmaker strategy?

Despite Biden's relatively muted public push, White House aides noted his influence plays out behind the scenes.

They said the president's approach has been to give the bill's lead negotiators – Sens. Scott and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif. – the time and space to hash out the details, a stark contrast from his Republican predecessor.

The approach underscores Biden's reputation as a dealmaker, according to political observers, and fits with his style that stresses personal relationships and bipartisan compromise.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the White House is in "regular contact with the negotiators at a member and staff level, talking multiple times a week."

"As the president has said forcefully, he supports the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act as passed by the House because it is critical to restore trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, stop these heartbreaking killings and uproot systemic racism from our criminal justice system," Bates said.

Inimai Chettiar, federal director of the Justice Action Network, said that because of the controversial and polarizing nature of police reform, it is perhaps better for the White House strategically to "stay out of it and let Congress negotiate."

"But then at some point, when they're not able to reach an agreement, it begs the question of what should the White House do," Chettiar said.

What's changed between this year and last? Crime

The White House has taken action on policing this year – but reform has not been the primary focus.

The homicide rate in more than 30 U.S. cities increased by 24% during the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year, according to the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice. Gun-related deaths are up by about 21%, according to the report, but violent crime overall is lower than it was five or 10 years ago.

In July's USA TODAY/Ipsos poll, crime topped a list of 16 issues of potential concern for respondents. The coronavirus pandemic dropped to No. 7, tied with racial injustice and discrimination. (They trailed political extremism, climate change, health care, government budget and debt and immigration.)

Jamal Simmons, a longtime Democratic strategist who worked on the campaigns for Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, said the White House has a "very tough needle to thread" on balancing the need for systemic police reform and alleviating crime concerns.

"I would not ignore the randomness of the crime being a driver of political sentiment that the White House is acutely aware of," said Simmons, who worked in the Clinton White House during the push for the 1994 Crime Bill. "There's a level of anxiety about it that exists among white and Black middle class people, and so activists are arguing for change that the political environment is not arguing for."

In response to crime concerns, the president announced a "zero tolerance policy" in June to crack down on rogue gun dealers.

As police reform talks dragged on, the Justice Department began to target gun violence in five cities.

In July, Biden convened a White House meeting with several police chiefs and mayors to spotlight the issue.

"One of the things that that I've heard through media and reading is that people don't want police officers. Well, that's not what I hear from the people that I serve," said Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul, who was among the law enforcement leaders who met with Biden. "What I hear when I'm in a community is they want more police presence and they love that presence in those areas, particularly in those neighborhoods where we're seeing increases in violence, but they just want good policing."

Brian O’Hara, public safety director in Newark, New Jersey, said he's sympathetic to the position Biden is in. He acknowledged the need for police reform, but he said Biden must weigh that against other pressing issues, including rising gun violence.

“Both are equally important, but perhaps the issue of gun violence is maybe a little more urgent because people are dying,” O’Hara said.

Paul, who described Biden as an "active listener" during their talk, said the president stressed to the police chiefs at the White House meeting how he wanted to rebuild trust between officers and minority residents in disinvested communities.

He said the president was clear that the focus of that conversation was on violent crime and how law enforcement must play a role in stemming the recent tide.

Pressure from the left

Activists who have an uneasy relationship with the White House worry the rise in crime in some cities is being used to shift the political conversation away from last summer, when protests over the deaths of Floyd, Taylor and other Black Americans at the hands of police jolted the country into a reckoning on racial injustice and abuse.

'Patience growing thin': Activists fear Biden's anti-crime strategy could overshadow police reform efforts

Minneapolis, Austin, Texas, and New York moved to strip or reallocate law enforcement funding as part of a push on the left to "defund the police."

The Justice Department announced investigations into police departments in Minneapolis, Louisville and Phoenix, which include reviewing use of force.

Federal inquiries: Police oversight languished under Trump. Biden's DOJ is bringing it back

Biden's critics on the left remain skeptical, saying the president has had a cozy relationship with law enforcement for decades, dating back to his Senate days when he helped write the 1994 Crime Bill.

Ofer of the ACLU said the White House should feel an imperative to address police accountability, considering Biden's role in enacting policies that severely punished drug crimes and led to a sharp rise in prison populations.

"I do think that he has a special responsibility to be more vocal on these issues, given his past policy positions,” he said. "We need President Biden to correct Sen. Biden’s mistakes of the past."

GOP opportunity

Though liberals fear Biden is not doing enough to rein in police, Republicans said he's doing too much, seeking to pin both the "defund" movement and the uptick in crime on Biden and other Democrats before next year's midterm elections.

The White House countered that strategy by pointing out no Republican voted for Biden's COVID-19 relief package, which provided $350 billion for cities and states to boost beleaguered police departments and fund alternative crime prevention initiatives.

The White House has aligned with New York Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams, whose successful hard-on-crime campaign message has emerged as the unofficial blueprint for moderates in 2022.

Adams, a former police captain, clinched the nomination by focusing heavily on public safety while promising to rein in police misconduct. He made his debut on the national stage last month at the White House, where he declared himself "the Biden of Brooklyn."

The Brooklyn borough president said in a statement to USA TODAY, "It's critical that we pursue reforms that make policing fairer, especially to Black and brown communities. … I’ve been heartened by the grassroots energy this issue has inspired in the past year, and that has to be matched with real legislative action."

The meeting with Adams, which focused on curbing gun violence, featured several other law enforcement officials, two mayors and only one community violence intervention advocate – a move designed to underscore Biden's commitment to law enforcement.

Weighty priorities: Infrastructure, voting rights and COVID-19

The other political challenge facing the White House – preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic resurgence and a sweeping bipartisan infrastructure package – is activists' demands on passing federal voting legislation and countering a raft of restrictive voting measures passed by GOP-led state legislatures.

Republicans blocked Democrats' voting legislation overhaul in June, and Biden has been under mounting pressure to prioritize voting rights on his jam-packed agenda.

"While police reform is something you should do, voting rights feels like something you must do," Simmons said.

Sharpton, who delivered a eulogy at Floyd's memorial service, said prioritizing voting rights shouldn't mean deprioritizing police reform.

"Let’s not forget about the George Floyd bill. … We can't act like when it comes to Black folks, we can only achieve one or the other," Sharpton said, referring to voting rights and police reform, two key civil rights issues among Black Americans. "We want all of them."

'Stuck in this vicious cycle'

Many give the president leeway even as anxiety grows about the legislation's chances on Capitol Hill.

"I have no doubt about President Biden’s commitment to racial justice and police reform," said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans. He said he felt reassured during a meeting on police reform in early July with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and civil rights leaders. "He set the tone for his administration within hours of his inauguration with his first executive order to advance racial equity and uproot systemic racism."

However, for families who have lost loved ones to police violence, the wait is agonizing.

Floyd's family remains hopeful, their attorney said.

Palmer is disheartened. She said victims' families become accustomed to more losses than wins.

There have been legislative victories at the local and state level through police reforms enacted in response to the shooting, but Palmer is disappointed by the lack of federal action and in the Biden administration, specifically.

"For me, I feel like we're just stuck in this vicious cycle, that we knew it would happen again, because nothing was done again. And we continue to lose hope and faith," Palmer told USA TODAY. "I'm constantly thinking about Breonna, what's going on and what's not going on."

What's not going on is an effort to include activists and organizations in the lobbying of Congress, said Keturah Herron, a policy strategist with the ACLU of Kentucky, who led reform efforts at the local and state level in the wake of Taylor’s shooting.

“It’s a tough situation. But I think we – as activists and organizers – have to keep pushing, no matter if it's at the local level or all the way at the level of Congress folks,” she said.

Herron worked with activists and others on pushing Louisville’s Metro Council to ban police from using no-knock warrants last summer. At the state level this year, she helped craft a bill that curtailed the use of such warrants with certain exemptions.

Herron said it is difficult to turn activist demands into legislation that can pass, especially among conservative-leaning lawmakers, including Democrats, who are wedded to law enforcement groups.

She said that if the Floyd bill fails, it will send a chilling message to grassroots level.

“What we're risking every day as time goes by is that we're going continue to see Black people continue to be brutalized and murdered at the hands of the state, without any type of consequences,” Herron said.

“The Biden administration is failing the people who voted for them in a lot of ways.”

Kevin Olasanoye, national political and organizing director for Collective PAC, which focuses on Black candidates, said Democrats must show African American voters who turned out in 2020 a specific policy reward if candidates expect them to show up against next year.

"I've had this conversation with the DNC [Democratic National Committee]. There has to be sort of that one-to-one ratio from voting for particular candidates to positive policy outcomes in their lives," he said. "If we're able to create that, I think you're going to see more Black people willing to step up and show up to vote. And that to me is the reason why, among other things, this is an important thing for Congress to get done."

Contributing: John Fritze, Savannah Behrmann and Bart Jansen

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: As George Floyd Act chances dim, Biden (publicly) mum on police reform