‘Our Democratic colleagues tried to say with straight faces that they want the Senate to discuss police reform — while they blocked the Senate from discussing police reform.’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding Senate Democrats’ decision to block Senator Tim Scott’s JUSTICE Act:
“The American people have been asked to swallow a number of contradictions over the past few weeks. I’ve already discussed some of them here on the floor.
“Many citizens were told by their mayors that small religious services were just too dangerous — at the same time that massive political protests were not just allowed, but encouraged.
“Americans have been told they should very carefully distinguish good people from bad apples if they are talking about protests and riots — but they must not make the same distinction if they’re talking about the police.
“Recently, the country was informed by hysterical journalists that a rational policy essay from Senator Cotton was too inflammatory to publish. But the Speaker of the House can say Senator Tim Scott and his 48 co-sponsors are “trying to get away with… the murder of George Floyd” and Democrats just cheer her on.
“Americans have been ordered to rethink and relearn our nation’s history by a movement that is itself so historically illiterate, they mistake George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and a 19th-century abolitionist for the enemies of justice and destroy their monuments.
“One common thread seems to connect all this: The far left wants you to play by one set of rules if you think like they do, and a completely different set of rules if you dare to think anything else.
“Well, yesterday, here in the Senate, the latest absurdity was added to the list. Our Democratic colleagues tried to say with straight faces that they want the Senate to discuss police reform — while they blocked the Senate from discussing police reform.
“They declared that Senator Scott’s bill, which contains many bipartisan components, which literally contains entire bills written by Democrats, was beyond the pale. Senator Scott offered a wide-open bipartisan amendment process, and they walked away.
“But over in the House, when Democrats shoot down every Republican amendment in committee and allow zero amendments on the floor, you can bet it’ll be anointed a big success.
“Now, as an aside — I could not help but notice that in the Democratic Leader’s lengthy remarks yesterday morning, he did not once address or acknowledge the junior Senator for South Carolina as the author of the JUSTICE Act.
“Not one time did the Democratic Leader address Senator Tim Scott as the author of the legislation he was trashing.
“I cannot see why the Democratic Leader talks right past Senator Scott as if he were not leading this discussion, as if he were barely here. All I can say is that it was jarring to witness, especially in a national moment like this.
“Senator Scott led the working group. He wrote the bill. He has been studying, and working on, and living these issues since long before the Democratic Leader came rushing to the microphones on this subject a few weeks ago.
“I can certainly take all the angry comments my colleague from New York wants to throw my way. I don’t mind.
“But if he’d like to learn something about the substance of this issue, he might want to stop acting like Senator Scott hardly exists and learn from the expert who wrote the bill.
“The American people know you do not really want progress on an issue if you block the Senate from taking it up.
“They know that most police officers are brave and honorable and that most protesters are peaceful. And they know our country needs both.
“The American people know they don’t need history lessons from common criminals who are dragging George Washington through the dirt.
“They know prayer is no less ‘essential’ than protest.
“And they know that a politician who compares a policy disagreement to a brutal murder has just permanently forfeited the moral high ground to the grown-ups who want solutions.
“Some forces are desperate to divide our country any way they can. But if people of good will and common sense stick together, the radical nonsense won’t stand a chance.”
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