News & Events
Stauber Leads Push to Pass Police Reform This Year WASHINGTON, DC — With protests across the country helping to fuel a debate over ways in which America’s law enforcement system can be reformed, The Ripon Society hosted a virtual discussion on July 16 with a Congressman and former police officer who is spearheading an effort on Capitol Hill to do just that. The Congressman is Pete Stauber (MN-8). Serving his first term in the House of Representatives, Stauber spent two decades as a law enforcement officer in the Duluth Police Department before his election in 2018. Because of this experience, he was tapped earlier this year by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to lead the House GOP effort on police reform.
Stauber opened his remarks on Thursday by talking about the importance of these efforts, and his work with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott to pass the JUSTICE Act, a plan the two have authored which is intended to help rebuild trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve by enacting reforms that create transparency and accountability within police departments nationwide. “He comes at it as a black man growing up in the South,” Stauber said of his Senate colleague and fellow Republican. “I come at it as a law enforcement officer of 23 years in the state of Minnesota. I think it’s a really good piece of legislation that can actually get signed into law. It
is bipartisan. In fact, about 85% of what’s in the JUSTICE Act are things on which my colleagues and I on the other side of the aisle agree. The concern I have is that when Senator Scott brought the JUSTICE Act to the floor — just for a vote to get it up for discussion — it was voted down. At a time when our communities are calling for change, we have to respond.” “I was really concerned that my two U.S. Senators, Klobuchar and Smith, voted against even bringing it to the floor for discussion. This reform is needed. On the House side, they brought up a piece of legislation that was purely partisan. I asked to be a part of the drafting of that legislation, because I think I can
Congressman Stauber is pictured below with former Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay at a White House event on police reform in June.
RIPON FORUM August 2020
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