Brooks: ‘I Blame the Democrats’ for Lack of Compromise on Police Reform

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that the blame for the gridlock over police reform in Congress lies with the Democrats for failing to compromise and accept a bill that may not have had everything that they wanted, but still would have improved policing. Brooks also praised Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-SC) bill as “a good-faith bill.”

Brooks said, “I blame the Democrats, frankly. I think [Tim] Scott, the Republican from South Carolina, who was the Republican sponsor, put together a good-faith bill. It had not everything the Democrats wanted, obviously, but it had some stuff. It had the — making lynching a federal hate crime. It had — against chokeholds, more transparency for police misconduct. And then Scott said, we’re going to let you vote on amendments. And so maybe — and he said that maybe I’d support some of these amendments. And so, he had a pretty open process. I’m a big believer, if you can take half the cake, take half the cake. And then, if Democrats win in November, they can get the whole cake. I think they should have compromised on this and accepted half a cake. It would have been a step forward to a better police force.”

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