Bipartisan police reform talks end with no Congressional deal
WASHINGTON, DC -- After months of negotiations, bipartisan police reform talks are officially over without a deal, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
Sources told ABC News that Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., called Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Wednesday morning to tell him that negotiations would be ending after Scott didn't accept the final offer Democrats had made.
Booker and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., made that final offer during a meeting Tuesday. Democrats said it was "the bare minimum of what they could accept at this point," a source told ABC News.
Talks hit a major snag early in the summer over the involvement of police unions. There were still significant sticking points between the two sides over qualified immunity and how officers should be prosecuted.
Booker said in a statement Wednesday that, "even with this law enforcement support and further compromises we offered, there was still too wide a gulf with our negotiating partners and we faced significant obstacles to securing a bipartisan deal."
"The time has come to explore all other options to achieve meaningful and common sense policing reform," Booker added in his statement. "I will not stop fighting until we achieve change that keeps our communities and police officers safe."
