Democrats offer sweeping police reform bill

Democrats put forward sweeping legislation Monday aimed at cracking down on police brutality and recording patterns of misuse of force across the country, the first concrete step toward action from Washington as a national movement emerges.

The legislation -- which was led by the Congressional Black Caucus, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey -- comes as the country is reeling from the recent deaths of several black Americans at the hands of the police, including George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis last month after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.

"The world is witnessing the birth of a new movement in our country," Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass said at the press conference on Monday where Democrats formally unveiled the legislation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Congress "cannot settle for anything less than transformative structural change." But the proposal, which does not yet have any Republican co-sponsors, would need bipartisan backing to make it through the Senate.