U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said insufficient accountability is one reason a Republican police reform bill failed to progress Wednesday in the Senate.

With a 55-45 tally, Senate Republicans failed to gain the 60 votes needed to proceed to a debate on the bill.

Afterward, Casey said an alternate Democratic reform proposal he co-sponsored would support a systemic overhaul to address racial bias in the justice system.

“We’re at a moral moment for the country,” the Scranton Democrat said. “The vote today on our side is saying the response from Republicans doesn’t meet the moment.”

Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh, pointed out that Wednesday’s vote wasn’t a final decision on passage of his party’s reform bill.

A vote of 60 or more “would only have served to start the legislative process,” he said. “But instead, Senate Democrats chose obstruction and politics over actual debate and legislating.”

He said Democrats were given “repeated assurances of a full debate, and opportunities to amend this bill as they saw fit.”

Also expressing frustration was Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican senator and the author of the GOP legislation.

“The issue is, do we matter?” he asked, echoing the words of the Black Lives Matter movement, during an impassioned Senate speech that drew applause from his colleagues. “We said no today.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to try again before the July 4 recess.

Casey maintained that all branches of government, including law enforcement, are “infused with racism. I believe that it’s not just a problem of a few bad actors. It’s a lot of other people tolerating it and refusing to be part of the change that holds those individuals accountable.”

“I think that the reason why you have to have such broad-based reform is because it is systemic. That’s something I was slow to recognize or act upon.”

Casey said the Democrats’ Justice in Policing Act of 2020 would ban police use of choke holds like the one involved in the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis that has touched off protests around the country, including in Pittsburgh. He said the Republican bill would merely provide an incentive not to engage in the practice. “That’s a colossal defect,” Casey said.

The Republican measure tied funding for police to whether departments have prohibited choke holds, except when deadly force is authorized.

The bill Casey co-sponsored would change the standard needed to criminally prosecute police misconduct from willful behavior to reckless behavior. It also would reform a “qualified immunity” legal doctrine that has been used to shield law enforcement officers from being held legally liable for civil rights violations, he said.

“It would make it possible for these cases to be brought on a more regular basis and possible for citizens to prevail in these cases,” he said.

The Democrats’ bill also would tighten the standard for whether police use of force was justified, changing from whether the force was reasonable to whether it was necessary.

It additionally would ban no-knock warrants in drug investigations and would create a National Police Misconduct Registry to prevent problem officers from changing jurisdictions to avoid accountability.

The Republican bill would require police officials to file reports on no-knock warrants with the attorney general and would emphasize tracking of incidents where an officer’s use of force results in death or serious harm.

Casey held out hope that a workable police reform measure remains possible on Capitol Hill.

“There are people who want to go forward,” he said. “I think there is a path to go forward.”

The Associated Press contributed.

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