Republican senator Rand Paul holds up anti-lynching bill amid George Floyd protests
Republican senator Rand Paul is holding up a bill that would make lynching a federal crime, amid the George Floyd protests.
Mr Paul admitted on Wednesday that he is the only hold-out in the Senate on the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act.
A nearly identical version of the bill passed in the Senate last year, but made it through Congress in February, with an amendment to name it after Emmett Till, who was lynched in Mississippi 65 years ago.
This amendment brought it back to the Senate, but it has failed to pass, due to a lone hold-out, who was not named until Wednesday, according to CBS News.
The legislation comes as protests are taking place all over the US, in response to the death of George Floyd, who died after being detained by Minneapolis police.
Protests, which are in opposition to police brutality, have put added scrutiny on systemic racism and injustice in the US and many are hopeful that now is the best time to get the bill passed.
However, Mr Paul told reporters on Wednesday, that he is holding-out on the bill because he wants elements of the proposed language of the legislation modified.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, the senator said that he wants to make sure the Senate is able to “make the language the best that we can get it”.
He said: “We want the bill to be stronger,” and added: “We think that lynching is an awful thing that should be roundly condemned and should be universally condemned.”
Mr Paul said he was concerned that the current proposed legislation would make it possible to “conflate someone who has an altercation, where they had minor bruises, with lynching”.
The senator added: “We think that’s a disservice to those who were lynched in our history” and “a disservice to have a new 10-year penalty for people who have minor bruising”.
During a debate in the Senate on Thursday, that took place the same time as Mr Floyd’s memorial, Mr Paul proposed an amendment, which would give police “qualified immunity”, which would protect them from being sued.
“Rather than consider a good-intentioned but symbolic bill, the Senate could immediately consider addressing qualified immunity and ending police militarization,” the senator said.
The amendment was blocked by New Jersey senator, Cory Booker, who said that now is the time to pass the widely supported bill.
“Tell me another time when 500-plus Congress people, Democrats, Republicans, House members and senators come together in a chorus of conviction and say, ‘Now is the time in America that we condemn the dark history of our past and actually pass anti-lynching legislation.”
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