Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 5-28-21

Political
George Floyd's Family Met
Congress Misses
With Pres. Biden And Vice
Biden's Deadline On
Pres. Harris At White House
Police Reform
President Joe Biden and Vice President Ka- mala Harris met on Tues- day with the family of George Floyd exactly one year after he was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, sparking nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.
The meeting comes as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act -- legislation that would set up a national registry of police misconduct, ban racial and religious pro- filing by law enforcement and overhaul qualified im- munity for police officers -- remains stalled in the Senate. Biden had set an initial goal of having the legislation passed by Tuesday, but the White House backed off that deadline to allow negotia- tions to continue in Con- gress.
In addition to meeting with the President, the Floyd family also met with the lead negotiators for the police re- form bill in the Senate, New
From left to right, Rep. Cedric Richmond, Rev. Al Sharpton, Pres- ident Joe Biden, attorney Ben Crump and Roger Floyd, George Floyd 's uncle . Sharpton posted this photo to his Twitter ac- count after meeting with the family of George Floyd.
President Joe Biden
called on Congress to pass a sweeping police reform bill by Tuesday, the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. That didn't happen.
“I would be shocked if any- thing happened as soon as this week or the next. I was briefed as soon as last week,” Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Dem, told Burgess.
Durbin said he and other negotiators felt good about the status of the talks until staff dug into the nitty gritty. Then, they realized there’s still a lot of ground to cover. Other senators involved in- clude Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Lindsey Graham (R- S.C.), plus Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) in the House.
“It felt good — there was a
SENATOR COREY BOOKER
conversation on the floor with Cory and Tim and Lindsey Graham and my- self. I felt good about it. But no sooner did the staff get to- gether that they found some areas where they still need work,” Durbin added.
Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker and South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott. They will also meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers at the U. S. Capi- tol, including California Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who led the charge to
pass the police reform bill in the House of Representa- tives.
Biden's meeting with Floyd's family was private, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, "in order to have a real con- versation and preserve that with the family."
Biden And Putin Will Meet Face To Face In Geneva In Mid-June
PRES. BIDEN AND PRES. PUTIN
President Biden will meet President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Geneva on June 16, the White House said Tuesday, the first face- to-face session between the two leaders at a time of ex- traordinary tension over Ukraine, cyberattacks and a raft of new nuclear weapons Mr. Putin is deploying.
The meeting is expected to focus heavily on preventing nuclear escalation. Geneva was also the site of the 1985
summit between Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, and Ronald Rea- gan, also focused on the nu- clear arms race.
But Mr. Biden is also ex- pected to use the summit to raise the issues he talked about with Mr. Putin on the telephone recently, just be- fore the United States an- nounced a new series of financial sanctions against Russian officials and finan- cial institutions.
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2021