The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a comprehensive police bill named after George Floyd, whose death sparked global protests against racial injustice.
Democrats pushed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act by a 220-212 vote, with the support of a single Republican.
The legislation would ban suffocation and eliminate “qualified immunity” for law enforcement, paving the way for lawsuits against officers accused of violating the constitutional rights of suspects.
The move was first passed last summer, shortly after Floyd’s May 25 assassination by police in Minnesota, but stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Democrats said they were determined to pass the bill a second time. While they now control both houses of Congress, it seems unlikely that legislation could pass the Senate without major changes to gain Republican Party support.
With publishing cables