A rare and contentious showdown among Democrats played out in public view on the Senate floor Tuesday as an animated Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) sparred with colleagues over passing bipartisan bills to bolster local police forces.
Booker blocked an effort by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) to pass a tranche of seven bipartisan law enforcement measures via unanimous consent. The measures cleared the Judiciary Committee earlier this year with unanimous support, including from Booker.
Booker said he was unable to attend previous hearings to amend the bills and that allowing them to pass on the floor so easily would enable President Donald Trump’s broader agenda and improper use of money appropriated by Congress.
“For us, as a body, to move forward right now is being complicit in what Donald Trump is doing. I say, ‘no,’” Booker said. “I say we stand. I say we fight. I say we reject this, and that in a bipartisan way, we demand an end to this kind of constitutionally unjust carving up of the resources we approve.”
Masto responded that the measures under consideration were unrelated to Booker’s objections. His proposed amendment to change how resources are distributed to law enforcement agencies was a “poison pill” intended to “kill all of these bills.” The Justice Department has altered grant programs and halted certain funds.
Booker, a leadership member as head of Democrats’ “strategic communications,” responded: “This, to me, is the problem with Democrats in America right now, is we’re willing to be complicit to Donald Trump, to let this pass through when we have all the leverage right now.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the third-ranked Senate Democrat ahead of fourth-ranked Booker, chided him for not previously offering changes. She said his objections to the bills have existed since “long before Donald Trump came into office.”
“We have committees for a reason, and we have hearings for a reason,” Klobuchar said. “You can’t do one thing on Police Week and not show up and not object and let these bills go through and then say another a few weeks later on the floor.”
Booker fired back that he did not “need lectures of the urgency of this,” citing a close personal friend who was a police officer and died by suicide.
Booker ultimately only allowed two of the seven provisions to pass. The pair that passed, the Chief Herbert D. Proffitt Act and the Improving Police CARE Act, would expand death benefits to families of retired law enforcement officials who die as a result of their service and equip officers with trauma kits.
The five that Booker blocked were the Protecting First Responders from Secondary Exposure Act, the Retired Law Enforcement Officers Continuing Service Act, the Reauthorizing Support and Treatment for Officers in Crisis Act, the Strong Communities Act, and the PROTECT Our Children Reauthorization Act. They would address accidental exposure to dangerous substances, staffing shortages, mental health resources, recruitment and retention, and combating online child sexual exploitation.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who also pushed for the package to be approved, said the bills would “strengthen our law enforcement community to help keep our citizens safe.”
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Republicans quickly reveled in the intraparty squabbling among Democrats, invoking Booker’s “I am Spartacus” moment from 2018 during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing.
“When Senator Spartacus is abandoning ship, you know it’s going down fast,” said Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the House GOP’s campaign arm.