Democrat New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker refused to blame Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott for claiming Booker wanted to defund the police.
Booker made an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” to discuss the crumbling negotiations on police reform.
Booker and Scott partnered in June to work on police reform negotiations. Scott had previously appeared on CNN and said the bill that Booker was pushing aimed to “defund the police.”
“It’s unfortunate,” Booker said in response to Scott’s claim. “We got the head of the FOP, IACP, these are some of the biggest unions in law enforcement agencies, to go with us on a lot of common sense reforms, and those folks don’t want to defund the police. This is a bill that would have had millions of dollars for police departments.”
“Are you surprised that [Scott’s] characterizing this as defunding the police?” the CNN host asked Booker. “He is saying that because you attached it to police funding grants, that’s defunding the police.” (RELATED: Biden Vows Executive Action After Republicans Kill Dem Police Reform Bill)
“I don’t want to descend into parting lines. There’s a lot more at stake here … This is not a time for partisanship … It’s not time to cast blame … I take responsibility for the struggle. I’m going to continue to work. I’m not going to cast stones at Republicans or Tim Scott. That’s not constructive,” Booker responded.