Ahead of first vote on Senate police reform bill, GOP's Scott asks Democrats to not 'walk away'

The Republican-controlled Senate's awaiting police reform legislation face its first vote Wednesday, amid opposition from Democrats who think the measure doesn't go far enough to stop police brutality and racial injustice.

The GOP effort is being led by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the chamber's only African-American senator. Scott asked Democrats ahead of the procedural vote to allow the measure to go forward to not "walk away."

The legislation, titled the Justice Act, would withhold grants to police departments that do not ban chokeholds, increase federal funding for body cameras, characterize lynching as a federal crime and report cases of police officers using excessive force that causes death or "serious injury" to an FBI database. 

House and Senate Democrats have proposed a separate bill, titled the Justice in Policing Act, which would ban chokeholds at the federal level, create a national registry to track police misconduct and prevent the transfer of military-style weapons to police departments.

Scott called on Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the "motion to proceed" so senators could work together on amendments and debate the bill.

"Lets include an amendment for every single issue you have," Scott said, explaining his outreach to Democrats on the bill. "They did not stick around for that meeting."

Scott said there should be an "up or down vote" on any proposed amendments to the bill from Democrats.

"Let it be their [the public's] bill. Not Tim Scott's bill. Not the Republican bill. Not the Democrat bill but a bill that starts to address the issues that have plagued this issue for decades," he said. "This is not my start. I started five years ago."

In a speech on the Senate floor before the vote, Scott also said if Democrats do not like parts of his bill, "make it better." 

"Vote for the motion to proceed so that we have an opportunity to deal with this very real threat to the America that is civil," he said. "This is an opportunity to say yes."