Nancy Pelosi kneels and calls George Floyd a 'martyr' to 'police brutality' as Democrats launch sweeping reform bill to ban chokeholds, make suing abusive cops easier and set up national register of guilty officers – but rejects defunding police

Nancy Pelosi claimed Monday morning that George Floyd is a 'martyr' of police brutality as Democrats kneeled for a moment of silence before unveiling a massive police reform bill.

'The martyrdom of George Floyd gave American experience a moment of national anguish as we grieve for the black Americans killed by police brutality,' the House Speaker said at the podium. 'Today this movement of national anguish is being transformed into a movement of national action as Americans from across the country peacefully protest to demand an end to injustice.'

'The martyrdom of George Floyd,' she said later in the briefing, 'has made a change in the world.' 

Pelosi said Democrats in Congress are 'standing with those fighting for justice and action,' and mentioned other black Americans she say are 'martyrs' who have died at the hands of police brutality.

'Let us, my colleagues, just go over some of those names of martyrdom,' she said, before listing names like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and several others.

A team of Democrats, all wearing kente cloths to either honor or stand in solidarity with those with African heritage, gathered for a press conference to reveal details of the bill, claiming the piece of legislation will combat police brutality, especially with the black community.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus memorably did not boycott Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in 2018, and instead wore brightly colored yellow, green, black and red kente cloths around their shoulders after the president infamously referred to Haiti and some African nations as ‘s***hole counties.’

The unveiling of the proposed legislation follows two weeks of protests across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Ahead of the press conference, Democrats held a moment of silence at the Capitol for eight minute and 46 seconds – the same amount of time former cop Derek Chauvin had his knee lodged on the back of Floyd's neck.

'We were there for eight minutes and 46 seconds on our knees. My members will attest it's a very long time,' Pelosi said. 'It's a very long time, and I graciously led them in falling over when it was over so that they could do the same thing, but here we are.'

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asserted Monday morning that George Floyd is a 'martyr' of police brutality – and claims his death at the hands of a white cop 'has made a change in the world'

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A team of Democrats gathered to unveil a sweeping police reform bill at the Capitol Monday morning – and ahead of the legislation reveal, the lawamkers observed a moment of silence for Floyd

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The law makers kneeled for eight minutes and 46 seconds – the same amount of time white cop Derek Chauvin had his knee lodged on the back of Floyd's neck during his arrest late last month 

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'We were there for eight minutes and 46 seconds on our knees,' Pelosi said at the briefing on the legislation. 'My members will attest it's a very long time'

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The lawmakers maintained social distancing guidelines for the moment of silence and wore face coverings

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Several lawmakers traveled back to Washington, D.C. from their homes to work on the legislation, which includes a ban choke holds, the creation of a national registry of cops who have been accused of misconduct and the abolition of qualified immunity, which protects police from civil litigation

The legislation includes a ban on police using chokeholds or carotid holds, would eliminate no-knock warrants in drug cases and aims to change 'the standard to evaluate whether law enforcement use of force was justified from whether the force was reasonable to whether the force was necessary.'

The sweeping package would also require nationwide use of body cameras by all police, subject law enforcement officers to civilian review boards and abolish the legal doctrine known as qualified immunity, which protects police from civil litigation, according to congressional sources.

It is unclear if the bill would receive support from Republicans, but the proposal from Democrats comes after Floyd died while in Minneapolis Police custody on Memorial Day.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, however, pushed during the press conference on the bill that his Republican colleagues get the bill on the floor of the Senate for debate by July.

'In the Senate, Democrats are going to fight like hell to make it a reality,' the New York Democrat said of the legislation, urging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to act swiftly.

'Democrats will not let this go away,' Schumer asserted.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass said during the briefing that she hopes 'there is a movement that has caught fire.' 

A bystander video showed Chavin, a white police officer who was fired shortly after the incident, kneeling on the back of Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes. The victim repeatedly voiced his pain and claimed he could not breathe, before he went limp underneath Chauvin's knee.

The incident, which went viral, sparked widespread outrage, unrest and launched more than two weeks of riots and peaceful protests in hundreds of cities across the country.

'It is time for police culture in many departments to change,' Bass, who is spearheading the legislation, told CNN Sunday morning.

She added that she hoped the wave of protests would increase pressure on lawmakers to act.

'We're in a real moment in our country, the passion that the people are displaying,' Bass added. 'That it is going to lay the basis for the momentum for us to bring about the change that we need to do.'

More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers gathered to discuss the bill at a 10:30 a.m. press conference – and while they wore masks, the Democrats did not keep in line with social distancing guidelines, which recommends people remain six-feet from one another. 

The legislation would create a national misconduct registry that would show all police officers who have been accused of misconduct. 

The National Police Misconduct Registry, Democrats say, would prevent officers found guilty of misconduct too often from moving from one department to another.

The 'federal registry of all federal, state and local law enforcement officers' would include misconduct complaints and discipline or termination records, and police departments would be required to declare that each new officer hired is certified. 

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (situated at the podium) urged his Republican colleagues in the Senate to get the bill on the floor for debate by July. 'Democrats will not let this go away,' he asserted

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The legislation proposal comes after nearly two weeks of nationwide protests and riots following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis Police custody following his arrest on Memorial Day 

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The public has called for the defunding of police departments in the midst of protests

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George Floyd was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis – the latest black death at the hands of a white cop sparked widespread rage leading to violent and peaceful protests and riots across the country

The bill would also officially make lynching a federal crime and include rules that would make it easier to sue a cop for police brutality.

Republicans, who control the Senate, and President Donald Trump will need to support the bill before the new measures aimed at policing become law.

Trump has repeatedly warned on social media that if Democratic candidate Joe Biden were to win the presidency in November, he would defund the police and U.S. military.

Prominent Democrats have dodged the question of defunding police and the bill being proposed Monday does not include provisions that would drain funding from police departments.

The GOP is likely to hang the defund movement on Democrats in an effort to keep their majority in the Senate and paint all their opposition on the left as extreme.

“House Democrats have gone so extreme with their ‘abolish culture’ that they’re one step away from wanting to outlaw fire departments,” Chris Pack, a spokesman for the NRCC, said. “This is insanity and not what Democrats ran on two years ago.”

The Democrat’s legislation does not address the issue of funding or cutting funding to police departments – but does make contingent on police receiving training on racial and implicit bias at the federal level.

Bass did assert, however, that the bill “does not provide any new money for policing.”

Floyd's death in Minneapolis, where a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, was the latest in a string of killings of black men and women by U.S. police that have sparked anger on America's streets and fresh calls for reform. 

A Reuters investigation published last month revealed how qualified immunity, refined over the years by the U.S. Supreme Court, has made it easier for cops to kill or injure civilians with impunity.

Even though Floyd died in police custody following the arrest caught on camera, the final autopsy, released last week, revealed the 46-year-old had a history of heart disease and had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.

It also noted that he had tested positive for coronavirus – but the autopsy report does not suggest that contributed to Floyd's death in any way.

The death was still ruled a homicide by cardiopulmonary arrest after Chauvin compressed his neck for an extended period of time during the arrest.

The Democratic legislation proposal also follows public calls for the defunding of police departments – and some public officials, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, are giving into those demands.

De Blasio vowed on Sunday that he would cut funding to the New York Police Department.