“It was clear that we were not making the progress that we needed to make,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told reporters. Booker said he’d told South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the lead Republican negotiator, of his decision earlier Wednesday. Talks had moved slowly for months, and it had became clear over the summer that the chances for a breakthrough were all but hopeless. Booker and Scott, among only three Black senators, refrained from criticizing each other throughout the talks and held to that on Wednesday. “We disagree on a lot of issues, and in this case, I’m disappointed that we have those disagreements,” Booker said.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 22, 2021 21:22 UTC