During his recent State of the Union address, President Joe Biden made clear where he comes down on the defund the police debate that has roiled Democratic politics since George Floyd was murdered in the summer of 2020.

The answer is not to defund the police. It is to fund the police. Fund them. Fund Them, Biden said. Fund them with resources and training. Resources and training they need to protect their communities.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stood and clapped in support. The rest of the room followed.

Biden never supported defunding the police, nor did the vast majority of Democrats in Congress, despite activists demands. But Biden did pledge a wide range of policing reforms when he was running for president in 2020, particularly after Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis.

Many of those reforms were packaged into the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, but that died an ignominious death in the Senate last year. In the face of strong Republican opposition, it couldnt attract enough support to clear the 60-vote filibuster.

Nevertheless, Biden could take a suite of actions through executive orders he could ban no-knock warrants, qualified immunity, officers shooting into moving vehicles, and chokeholds. It is also unclear how the reforms will differ from the Department of Justice imposing restrictions on chokeholds and no-knock warrants last year. Many people hoped Biden would have announced those actions already: CNBC reported in mid-January that he was planning to sign some executive orders on policing in the run-up to his State of the Union Address on March 1.

That didnt happen. And a White House official told HuffPost there is no timeline for any further reform. The official added that the administration believes addressing crime directly creates the political space to bring about police reform and prevents any demagoguing by Republicans who oppose any police reform efforts.

While Washington has largely moved on, the families of people who died because of police violence have been left to carry the burden. Over the past few months, HuffPost spoke with three of them about their loss, and what it was like to see last years hope produce no tangible national-level reforms.

Justice Delayed

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed the House of Representatives on March 3 last year, not long after the new Congress was sworn in. But after long negotiations, Democrats and Republicans could not come to an agreement. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) described it as a squandered opportunity. Biden blamed the bills collapse on Republicans, who he said couldnt even agree to modest policing reform.

It still stings Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), who led negotiations on the bill. What I would say is, one, that I am deeply sorry that we did not succeed, and two, that we will continue trying until we do succeed, Bass told HuffPost in October.

Bass and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) say there may be other avenues for federal-level reform through what Bass described as a two-prong strategy that would require the White House to use the maximum power it has.

But in February, Booker told HuffPost he was unsure when the White House might act.

Not yet; we saw the documents, but that was very early in the process, and I think it is something they are still working on, Booker said.

When asked how soon any action was coming, he replied, I cant speak for them.