Republican Efforts to Defund Federal Law Enforcement In the 2022 midterms, Republicans spent nearly $50 million attacking Democrats on crime, accounting for 58% of their ad expenditures. They claim Dems are “soft on crime” and want to “defund the police” and let violent criminals roam our streets. But now Republicans, the purported party of “law and order,” have introduced a debt limit bill that would defund federal law enforcement. By contrast, Biden’s proposed budget makes historic investments in policing, public safety, and crime prevention. This begs the question—do Republicans actually care about law and order? Republican Debt Limit Bill Defunds Law Enforcement Speaker McCarthy has released debt limit legislation that would freeze Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 federal spending at FY 2022 levels. This would mean a 22% cut to non-defense discretionary spending, meaning a 22% cut to federal law enforcement funding. The bill would gut $10 billion from federal law enforcement investments and result in the loss of 28,500 officers. The FBI, which is responsible for investigating domestic and international terrorism, organized crime, and other federal crimes, would lose 11,000 agents, analysts, and staff. The DEA, responsible for combatting drug trafficking, would lose 1,600 officers. The ATF, responsible for investigating gun trafficking, would lose 500 officers. At a time when shootings are on the rise, we need to crack down on illegal guns, not cut back on our efforts. The TSA, responsible for keeping our airports and transportation network safe, would lose 12,400 officers. All of these agencies would see their budgets cut by billions of dollars, limiting their capacity to keep Americans safe. And these cuts don’t just affect federal law enforcement. Local law enforcement agencies receive federal support through Byrne grants, which would decrease by an average of $30,000 per department if the bill were to pass. That means every local police department in the country would be hurt by this directly. Local law enforcement agencies also regularly collaborate with federal agencies to make their communities safer, whether it be from drugs, organized crime, or guns. Cuts to funding and personnel would negatively impact federal agencies’ capacity to help local law enforcement in each of those areas. Biden’s Budget Combats Crime and Invests in Public Safety Contrary to fear mongering and cuts pushed by Republicans, President Biden’s budget invests in federal law enforcement, public safety, and crime prevention. It allocates $17.8 billion for DOJ law enforcement, including but not limited to: $2 billion for the ATF to expand efforts to combat gun trafficking and violence; $1.9 billion for the US Marshals Service to support personnel dedicated to fighting violent crime; $51 million for the FBI to implement enhanced background checks for firearm purchases; and, Funding to put 100,000 additional police officers on our streets for accountable, community-oriented policing that keeps American communities safe. Biden’s budget also invests in state and local law enforcement agencies. It provides $4.9 billion in resources for state and local grants to enhance public safety, as well as $19.4 billion and $5 billion over 10 years for crime prevention strategies and community violence interventions, respectively. Biden’s budget also makes historic investments in ending gender-based violence, allocating $1 billion to implement Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs, a 43% increase from the previous year. Taken together, this funding would significantly improve public safety in cities, suburbs, and rural areas across the country. A budget is a reflection of your values. Clearly, Republicans are sending the message that they don’t value public safety and law enforcement https://www.thirdway.org/blog/republican-efforts-to-defund-federal-law-enforcement
Busting the ‘Defund the Police’ Myth Democrat-run cities spend more money on policing than Republican-run cities, with the 25 largest Democrat-run cities spending 38 percent more on policing per capita than the 25 largest Republican-run cities. Of the 25 largest cities, 20 saw increases in their police budgets from FY 2019 to FY 2022. Twenty-one of these cities are run by Democrats. The 25 largest cities saw their police budgets grow by a total of 5 percent from FY 2019 to FY 2022. Democrat-run cities have more police per capita than Republican-run cities. The 25 largest Democrat-run cities employ 75 percent more police officers per capita than the 25 largest Republican-run cities. At the federal level, President Joe Biden and Democrats sponsored and secured passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which provides federal resources to support police departments. Republicans voted against President Biden’s ARPA, which included $350 million in federal funding to hire more police. Despite the rhetoric, Democrats are the ones who have placed an emphasis on funding law enforcement. The rest is just a political myth. https://www.americanprogressaction.org/article/defund-police-myth/ The Truth is that MAGA Republicans Want to Defund Law Enforcement Daily Mail: “Now DESANTIS joins Trump in threatening to defund the FBI and DOJ to be defunded” Sahil Kapur, NBC News: “Donald Trump pressures Republicans to defund the (federal) police.” Jonathan Allen, NBC News: “When Trump was president, he proposed slashing federal funding for local police forces.” Insider: “Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she won’t vote for a budget without cuts to DOJ and FBI.” MSNBC: “House Republican calls for defunding Homeland Security department” Punchbowl: “According to Biden administration estimates … Roughly 11,000 FBI personnel could be laid off.” Axios: “Top House conservatives are targeting the budgets of federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) as part of their scrutiny of the ‘weaponization’ of the federal government, as Axios has reported.” The same MAGA Republicans grandstanding today have refused to lift a finger for common sense reforms to prevent gun violence endangering American families. Most of the Texas Republicans in Congress have threatened to “defund” the Department of Homeland Security. https://democrats.org/news/maga-republicans-want-to-defund-law-enforcement/
We hear Republicans go on and in about crime ridden Democratic cities and about Leftist wanting to defund the police but then when it’s those on their ideological side being prosecuted for assaulting LEO and holding onto classified material it’s “Defund the FBI” and “weaponizing DOJ”. All of this while that same DOJ is also investigating Democrats and Congressional Republicans are calling for more investigation and prosecution.
There is nothing hypocritical here. The issue is messaging. Republicans can't be openly expressing their true intentions so they can have plausible deniability that they aren't basically racist and fascist. They aren't hypocrite when you realize their goal is very straight forward: to maintain the current economic and cultural heirchies. Large corporations do the same exact thing. Pretend to support "BLM" and then find ways to privately fund a massive cop training facility in Atlanta to teach them what I was taught(MOUT shoot house training) to fight people overseas that my peers called "sand n*iggers". Corporations see the dividing wealth classes and understand that as time moves forward law enforcement has to eventually just be their private security details protecting property and investments and nothing else.
