过道两边的主要立法者说他们看到了一个改革的机会德里克·肖万事件后的警务实践明尼阿波利斯的定罪。

同时打破僵局仍然是一场斗争有迹象表明，妥协可能正在进行——特别是在最棘手的问题上——联邦官员享有的针对被称为合格免疫。

共和党参议员蒂姆·斯科特(Tim Scott)周三对记者表示:“有一种方法可以让(警察)部门或雇主承担比雇员更多的责任或负担。”“我认为这是向前迈出的合乎逻辑的一步，正如我在过去几周与(国会女议员)凯伦·巴斯所说的那样，民主党人很容易接受这一点。”

汤姆·威廉姆斯/CQ-通过盖蒂影像公司点名，文件

众议员卡伦·巴斯，国会黑人核心小组主席，在国会大厦主持新闻发布会

但加州民主党众议员卡伦·巴斯(Karen Bass)周三似乎表示，斯科特提议的妥协远未解决。

巴斯告诉记者:“我们需要个别官员和机构负责，因为我认为，如果机构、城市——如果他们担心诉讼——他们不会希望有问题官员。”他补充说，定罪确保违规警察不会被重新雇用。

“如果(肖万)没有被定罪，即使他被解雇了，他也可以因为工会而被重新雇用。巴斯说:“他们在那里的工会合同规定，如果警察局长解雇了一名官员，这名官员可以诉诸仲裁，并可以违背局长的意愿重新雇用。”

斯科特最近几周一直在幕后与国会黑人核心小组前主席巴斯以及新泽西州参议员科里·布克合作，后两人是主要赞助商去年众议院通过的警务改革法案，但是在参议院被搁置当时共和党人控制了众议院。

亚历克斯·王/盖蒂图像，文件

2021年4月12日，在华盛顿，参议员蒂姆·斯科特在美国国会大厦对记者发表讲话。

斯科特自己提出的改革警务实践的法案《司法法案》(Justice Act)去年在参议院停滞不前，原因是民主党人担心，该法案未能通过终止限定豁免和禁止扣押和禁止搜查令等做法来追究警察的责任。

相反，斯科特的法案利用联邦资金迫使警察部门实施变革，例如结束那些有争议的做法，增加身体摄像头的使用，将私刑定为联邦仇恨犯罪，增加培训和减少策略，以及建立一个委员会来研究在毒品案件中使用不敲门搜查令——斯科特说，这一举措最终可能导致禁令。

以死于肖万之手的乔治·弗洛伊德命名的众议院法案，将禁止chokeholdss、颈动脉hold、联邦毒品案件中的禁止搜查令、取消合格豁免、限制向地方运送军用设备以及建立国家警察不当行为数据库。

巴斯周日表示，共和党人这一次“本着诚信行事”。

“我很有希望，因为我们刚刚进行非正式讨论的那群人非常真诚，这是一个两党团体，”巴斯说。“我相信，我们希望有所作为。”

Evelyn Hockstein/Pool通过路透社

2021年4月20日，科里·布克参议员在国会参加参议院司法委员会听证会。

布克周三同意了，拒绝提供闭门讨论的任何细节，他说这也包括白宫。

“我和斯科特参议员是朋友。他是一个诚实的经纪人。布克对记者说:“我再次承诺要完成一些事情，我们会看看这一切是如何运作的。”他补充说，他不想“做任何危及所有对话的善意和活力的事情。”拒绝提供任何谈判细节通常是国会山取得真正进展的标志。

这与去年6月布克(Booker)推翻斯科特法案(Scott bill)时截然相反，称其“可耻”，称其仅代表“翻开新的一页指责他人的愿望”，并表示，如果该法案获得通过，“这不是‘如果’的问题，而是‘何时’的问题”，“国会将被迫回到政策桌上”，“在另一个布伦纳·泰勒(Brenna Taylor)在自己家里被谋杀后，在一份禁止敲门的逮捕令后，在另一个埃里克·加纳(Eric Garner)被窒息死在人行道上后，在一份禁止敲门的逮捕令后。”

白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)周三对美国广播公司首席新闻记者塞西莉亚·维加(Cecilia Vega)表示，“当然”在警务改革和考虑斯科特法案方面还有谈判的空间，但她补充说，“他们必须决定在哪里可以找到一致意见，才能向前迈进。最后，总统认为，正如他昨晚非常热情地表达的那样，我们需要制定警察改革措施。他们早就该来了。”

参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)不愿透露今年何时将两党立法或其他立法提交议会审议，但他承诺众议院将采取行动。

“参议院将继续这项工作，因为我们努力确保乔治·弗洛伊德的悲惨死亡不会是徒劳的，”纽约市长舒默在周三的发言中说。“在参议院通过强有力的立法结束执法中的系统性偏见之前，我们不会罢休。”

在平分秋色的众议院中，任何立法都需要至少10名共和党人的支持，才能克服任何阻挠议事的行为。

艾伦·夏本/洛杉矶时报

贾斯汀·斯蒂芬森在庆祝肖万判决的消息时露出了灿烂的笑容

斯科特说，目前的两党谈判还涉及其他一些问题，包括消除联邦限制、禁止搜查令以及在地方使用国防部剩余设备。

但斯科特在共和党对警务系统问题的怀疑中试图解决一个棘手的政治问题时，确实划定了一条红线，他告诉记者，降低对联邦执法人员定罪所需的犯罪意图门槛是“不可能的”。

“我认为问责很重要，但我也不支持让一线官员经常承担潜在的破坏性民事责任，”德克萨斯州共和党人、司法委员会高级成员特德·克鲁兹说。“因此，我认为更好的关注领域是培训和改善警察部门内部的政策，以避免不当行为和可怕的虐待，如导致乔治·弗洛伊德死亡的行为。”

斯科特、布克和巴斯的员工也一直在幕后工作。尽管斯科特说分歧可以在“一至两周内”解决，但多名国会助理告诉美国广播公司新闻，他的时间表过于雄心勃勃。

巴斯设定了自己激进的时间表，称她希望在5月25日乔治·弗洛伊德逝世周年纪念日之前，国会通过这项立法。在当前的党派环境下，这个时间表似乎同样雄心勃勃。

爱德华多·穆尼奥斯/路透社

前明尼阿波利斯警官德里克·C的审判判决后，人们举着标语聚集在一起

但是两党小组表示，现在提出解决方案的压力很大。

“我们国家面临危机，需要更多的问责。这就是为什么我从成为参议员开始就一直致力于这个问题。布克说:“作为一个国家，我们有很多工作要做。

Key lawmakers work on policing reform compromise in wake of the Chauvin conviction

Key lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they see anopportunity to reformpolicing practices in the wake of Derek Chauvin'sconviction in Minneapolis.

While breaking through the logjamremains a struggle, there are signs that a compromise could be afoot -- particularly with the stickiest of issues -- the sweeping legal protection federal officers enjoy against lawsuits known asqualified immunity.

"There is a way to put more of the onus or the burden on the (police) department or on the employer than on the employee," Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told reporters Wednesday. "I think that is a logical step forward and one that as I've spoken with (Congresswoman) Karen Bass over the last several weeks, it's something that the Democrats are quite receptive to."

But Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., seemed to indicate Wednesday that the proposed Scott compromise is far from settled.

"We need the individual officers and the agencies to be accountable, because I think if the agencies, the cities -- if they're concerned about lawsuits -- they will not want to have problem officers," Bass told reporters, adding that a conviction ensures offending police officers cannot be rehired.

"If (Chauvin) had not been convicted, even though he was fired, he could be rehired again because of the union. The union contract that they have there says that if a police chief fires an officer, that officer can go to arbitration and can be rehired again against the desire of the chief," said Bass.

Scott has been working behind the scenes in recent weeks with Bass, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, as well as Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., the latter two being thelead sponsorsof policing reform legislation that passed the House last year, but wasshelved in the Senatewhen Republicans controlled the chamber.

The Justice Act, Scott's own bill to reform policing practices, stalled in the Senate last year as well amid Democrats' concerns that it failed to hold police officers accountable by ending qualified immunity and banning practices like chokeholds and no-knock warrants.

Instead, Scott's bill leverages federal funds to compel police departments to enact change, such as ending those controversial practices, increasing the use of body cameras, making lynching a federal hate crime, increasing training and deescalation tactics and establishing a commission to study the use of no-knock warrants in drug cases -- a move that could, Scott has said, eventually lead to a ban.

The House bill, named for George Floyd who died at the hands of Chauvin, would ban chokeholds, carotid holds, no-knock warrants in federal narcotics cases, eliminate qualified immunity, limit military-grade equipment being sent to localities and establish a national police misconduct database.

Bass on Sunday said Republicans this time around "are operating in good faith."

"I am hopeful, because the group of people where we have been having just informal discussions are very sincere, and it's a bipartisan group," Bass said. "And I believe that we want to make something happen."

Booker on Wednesday agreed, refusing to offer any details about the closed-door discussions, which he said have also included the White House.

"Sen. Scott and I are friends. He's an honest broker. And again, I've committed to getting something done and we'll see how it all works," Booker told reporters, adding that he did not want to "do anything to jeopardize the good faith, good energy of all of the conversations." That refusal to offer any details on negotiations is typically a sign of real progress on Capitol Hill.

That was a stark about-face from last June when Booker eviscerated the Scott bill, calling it "shameful," saying it represented merely "a desire to turn a page to point a finger of blame" and said if it were to pass, it would "not be a matter of 'if' but 'when'" Congress would be forced back to the policy table "after another Brenna Taylor is murdered in her own home after a no-knock warrant, after another Eric Garner is suffocated to death on a sidewalk with a no-knock warrant."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega Wednesday that "of course" there is room for negotiation on policing reform and consideration of the Scott legislation, but, she added, "They're going to have to decide where they can find agreement, moving forward. Ultimately, the President believes, as he conveyed quite passionately last night, that we need to put in place police reform measures. They're long overdue."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would not say when legislation, bipartisan or otherwise, would be brought to the floor for consideration this year, but he did promise action from the chamber.

"The Senate will continue that work as we strive to ensure that George Floyd's tragic death will not be in vain," Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech Wednesday. "We will not rest until the Senate passes strong legislation to end the systemic bias in law enforcement."

Any legislation in the evenly split chamber would require the support of at least 10 Republicans to overcome any filibuster.

A number of other issues are in play in the current bipartisan talks, according to Scott, including eliminating federal chokeholds, no-knock warrants and the use of surplus Defense Department equipment in localities.

But Scott did delineate one red line as he attempts to navigate a thorny political issue amid GOP skepticism of systemic problems in policing, telling reporters that lowering the threshold of criminal intent required for convicting a federal law enforcement officer is "off the table."

"I think it's important to have accountability, but I also don't support making line officers routinely subject to potentially destructive civil liability," said Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and senior member of the Judiciary Committee. "So I think the better area of focus is on training and improving the policies within police departments to avoid misconduct and to avoid horrific abuses, such as the conduct that led to the death of George Floyd."

Staffers of Scott, Booker and Bass have been working behind the scenes, as well. Though Scott said the differences could be resolved in "one to two weeks," multiple congressional aides told ABC News that his timeline is too ambitious.

Bass has set her own aggressive timeline, saying she wanted to have the legislation through Congress by the anniversary of George Floyd's death on May 25. It's a schedule that, in the current partisan environment, seems equally ambitious.

But the bipartisan group said the pressure to come up with a solution now is great.

"We have a crisis in this country, and there needs to be more accountability. This is why I've been committed to this issue since I became a senator and before. We have a lot of work to do as a nation," Booker said.