to all of the hurting families I want
you to know that all Americans mourn by
your side I can never imagine your pain
or the depth of your anguish but I can
promise to fight for justice for all of
our people and I gave a commitment to
all of those families today with senator
Tim Scott 30 general bill Barr President
Trump today at the White House signing
an executive order on police reform but
the work in Washington is just beginning
as the attention shifts to Congress to
take action here Senator Chuck Schumer
not exactly sounding like they are
burying the hatchet to work together on
this watch us when it comes to urgent
national priorities the Republican
majority is like a broken magic 8-ball
that keeps saying ask again later
the popular anger over long simmering
issues of police brutality and racial
justice has reached the tipping point
there is no reason to wait there is no
reason to delay so let's get a sense of
where this is headed with Republican
Senator Jim Scott of South Carolina
Senator Scott always good to have you
here thank you for being here I want to
ask you about this legislation but I
just get your reaction to the two very
different viewpoints that we heard as
you were waiting to come on tonight from
will JaJuan Doe and from dr. Steele what
did you think about that really
fascinating conversation I'll say this I
think Shelby still hit on two very
important points racism is an issue but
racism is not the issue if racism is the
issue then you are not the solution in
your own life I can tell you from a kid
growing up in poverty mired with
hopelessness that I lost my way I almost
flunked out of high school I decided
that the world was my problem and that I
had no ability to change my future I was
dead wrong a strong powerful mother and
a mentor taught me that anyone from
anywhere at any time in this country can
soar to Heights never imagined by that
individual I embrace that concept and my
life took a hundred and eighty
degree turn in the right direction so
Shelby said it really well so from an
education perspective if you're looking
to bring our country closer together and
close the racial divide we have to have
more parents saying enough is enough the
poor zip codes should not be a
correlation for the poorest educational
outcomes we have to have parents and
citizens saying no more from an economic
stability and economic mobility message
Opportunity Zones will bring 75 billion
dollars into the most distressed
communities in the country that means we
can create entrepreneurs in the places
where there are no jobs I became an
entrepreneur it changed my financial
life and my mother's as well so the
truth is that racism is an issue it is
not the issue individual responsibility
has to be embraced for the human
flourishing to hit its maximum potential
I've experienced it I know it I've
studied the issue and the response
continues around this country whether
it's Ben Carson Jason Halliburton
there's so many examples around this
nation of people who've decided that
enough is enough I must be responsible
and as a responsible American I'm gonna
do the hard work even if it's a little
harder and I will get amazing results
and I will say this country stands
strong it is the most powerful
optimistic nation on earth yeah well
that's a good message I feel like we
have to get back there and I know that
you're trying to absolutely lead the way
right now on this legislation that would
go a long way and police reform you
heard from Senator Schumer it looks like
Senate Democrats are not lined up with
you on this so what kind of change can
we can we expect to come out of the
Senate in this bill well we we have an
amazing opportunity to say to the
American people we hear you the police
unions are perhaps a part of the problem
on the left they say that there are
poison pills that they're not willing to
discuss and there are other things that
they want in the legislation when in
fact 75% of the legislative priorities
in my legislation the Senate legislation
and the house legislation all line up to
be the exact same thing will the Senate
Democrats not come to the table and
negotiate when you have three out of the
four items you want if they are more
interested in having the issue than the
solution that tells me that partisan
politics and November is more important
than solving the issues I hope that when
we have a chance to roll this out that
Democrats of goodwill will come to the
table and negotiate for the type of
results this nation wants well I what a
great point I mean I think that people
are so torn and frayed by what's going
on in this country right now and it when
they look at the intransigence that
we're hearing on Capitol Hill over some
of these issues that seem like they
should be solvable this is Nancy Pelosi
talking about it and then I want to get
your response to her up so is there for
the leader of the Senate to say it's
going nowhere we won't even we don't
want any of that is really disgraceful
we all know that we need to have
guidelines we need to have training we
need to have data base we need all of
those things but we also need to have
some serious legislation to make sure it
happens nationally so we're it we're the
areas of agreement can you get there and
can you get there before to the July 4th
recess well more of what I just heard
from Speaker Pelosi uh god bless sir but
part of the things that she said that I
agree with is the fact that our bill
deals with data collection and more
information so that we know what's going
on in agencies around the country with
good information it leads to the second
tranche which is training training and
training we can actually provide
training on de-escalation we can talk
about the necessity to intervene we have
the resources pointing in the right
direction when you have the right data
so we agree on both little strongest
officer misconduct we're in the same
place we want to eliminate the bad
apples what they want to do is go so far
that they introduce poison pills in
their legislation and that's why Mitch
McConnell said it's a non-starter for
those poison pills we could have
talked about decertification of officers
except for the Democrats say that's a
poison pill because the police unions
say that's a non-starter so they're not
willing to have that conversation so we
didn't put that part in the bill so what
we have is 75% of what they say they
want we can start there if she's not
willing to come to the table if
Schumer's not willing to come to the
table I hope the American voters come to
the table and say enough is enough well
you know you look at the police officer
in Minneapolis now fired and the other
one now fired in Atlanta who had things
on their record that should have shown
up on a database like this and you know
the investigations will show perhaps
that they shouldn't have been doing
their jobs we'll see where this goes I
think most Americans can be on the same
page on that and we'll see what can
happen on Capitol Hill Senator Scott
always good to see you sir thank you so
much for being tonight you too