2:32
- ABC News
- April 28, 2021
GOP senator to deliver a hopeful speech on values
He's approaching his moment in the national spotlight with humor, new socks.
2:32
Negotiating police reform
Scott is currently deep in bipartisan negotiations, sanctioned by leadership, with the very Democrats who were instrumental in sinking his 2020 reform effort -- at the time calling it \"shameful\" and merely a political exercise. Scott, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., are trying to find a compromise to reform law enforcement practices, as the nation grapples with the explosive issue in the face of high-profile encounters between Black men and police.
Democrats blocked Scott's attempt last year to pass his Justice Act that focused on using federal dollars to incentivize police departments to drop controversial practices, like the carotid chokehold that was used on Floyd, employing more body cameras, making lynching a federal hate crime, increasing training -- particularly in descalation tactics -- and establishing a commission to study the use of \"no-knock\" warrants in drug cases -- a move that could, Scott said at the time, eventually lead to an outright ban.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/tim-scott-republican-national-convention-gty-jc-210427_1619560435492_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sat down with Booker and Sen. Dick Durbin, the chamber's number two Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and said later Monday that the talks were showing \"good progress.\"
Booker has studiously avoided discussing any detail of those negotiations but on Tuesday said, \"Tim and I disagree on a whole bunch. Obviously he's a Republican. I'm a Democrat, but he's a friend. ... He's a good faith actor, and he's also a Black man in America and knows a lot of these issues, personally. So, if anybody can get it done on his side, he's the right person to be negotiating.\"
Indeed, Scott has recounted multiple instances in which he felt he had been unfairly targeted by police because of the color of his skin.
In a 2020 opinion piece in USA Today, Scott wrote, \"At the age of 21, I was pulled over for simply having an improper headlight, and yet the officer felt the need to place his hand on his weapon and call me 'boy.' Even today, while I have the privilege of serving as a United States senator, I am not immune to being stopped while driving at home in South Carolina or even while walking onto the grounds of the Capitol. Each time, I hold my breath and each time, I have been able to exhale and go about my business. Thank God!\"
On Tuesday, Booker said of the talks, \"My goal is to get something done as quickly as possible. I think the time is now. I think history has its eyes on this moment as we continue to see unarmed African Americans being killed by police. It's just a constant daily reminder almost.\"
Key sticking points include whether or not police officers should continue to enjoy broad immunity from lawsuits, known as \"qualified immunity. Scott has proposed holding the police department of an offending officer accountable, but Democrats have yet to agree to such a pitch. They are also grappling with whether the Pentagon should send surplus military equipment to localities, something many Democrats want stopped.
Still, the group is hopeful.
\"I do think we can get this done. We have to,\" Scott told reporters last week, though the Republican is navigating difficult political terrain where the GOP has tended to stand staunchly behind police officers, spurning last year's House-passed legislation, named for Floyd. It would have banned chokeholds like the carotid hold, no-knock warrants in federal narcotics cases, eliminated qualified immunity, limited military-grade equipment sent to localities, and established a national police misconduct database. Then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shelved the bill and blamed Democrats for rejecting the Scott bill.
While negotiators this time around have drawn few redlines, Scott has one -- telling reporters that lowering the threshold of criminal intent required for convicting a federal law enforcement officer is \"off the table.\"
'A living, breathing unicorn'
Scott has often referred to himself as \"a living, breathing unicorn.\"
When he was first elected to the House in November 2010, he was the first Black person in the GOP since 2003 and was the first Black Republican from the South since 1901. In joining the upper chamber, he was the lone African American senator and is still the only Black Republican there.
In December 2010 he declined to join the Congressional Black Caucus, saying at the time, \"The black community, like all communities, will benefit when businesses can use their profits to hire more workers instead of paying higher taxes.\"
And though he entered Congress on the anti-government tea party wave, Scott never embraced that label. He is a conservative.
Not a politician by training, Scott has become adept over the years in navigating sticky political situations, with most Republicans -- and many Democrats -- holding an extremely high opinion of him.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/tim-scott-donald-trump-gty-jc-210427_1619560346133_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
Even with the mercurial Trump, Scott received nothing but praise. The senator even started off as a Rubio supporter in the 2016 presidential primary, which is something that might normally have made him persona non grata with a president known for holding grudges. To the contrary, Scott often served as a sounding board for Trump on racial issues, even bucking the president when he thought he had stepped out of line.
It is unclear if Scott has designs on higher office. He he told a hometown newspaper that he would run for reelection in 2022, but that run would be his last.
Many GOP strategists think Scott is quietly preparing for a 2024 presidential run. He recently traveled to the politically-critical state of Iowa and revamped his Senate website to include a large American flag in the background.
As he steps to the lectern Wednesday night, under the watchful eye of former Sen. Mike Mansfield -- a Democrat and the chamber's longest serving majority leader who navigated the toughest of political environments as he shepherded landmark civil rights legislation to passage -- Scott's future prospects could receive a substantial boost if he is able to deliver a memorable 10 minutes.
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