Clyburn says Democrats should not stall police reform talks over push for 'perfect' bill and ending qualified immunity
House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Sunday said Democrats should not delay new policing reform legislation even if a provision on ending civil lawsuit protections currently afforded to police officers is not included, arguing that the party can push to end qualified immunity at another time.
Posted — Updated"I would never sacrifice good on the altar of perfect. I just won't do that. I know what the perfect will would be. We have proposed that. I'm willing to see good legislation and I know that sometimes you have to compromise," the South Carolina Democrat told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of The Union." "We got to root out the bad apples, and let's go forward with a good, solid program. If you don't get qualified immunity now, then we'll come back and try to get it later, but I don't want to see us throw out a good bill because we can't get a perfect bill."
Progress has been made in bipartisan talks in Congress to overhaul policing, but the issue of ending qualified immunity, which protects police officers from civil lawsuits, remains a sticking point. South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott has proposed shifting the responsibility to police departments as opposed to individual officers while Democrats have said both the officers and departments should be held accountable.
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