Exclusive: The White House says President Biden will protect law enforcement and support crime-reduction programs, while slamming House Republicans and accusing them of taking steps to cut funding for police.
The comments came after the House Republican Study Committee released its 2025 budget proposal, titled “Saving America’s Fiscal Health.”
President Biden speaks at a campaign event at Pullman Yards in Atlanta on March 9, 2024. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
The White House will cut funding for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), a program created in the 1990s as a way to assist state and local law enforcement agencies with costs such as salaries, court programs, and juvenile justice programs. He has slammed the RSC over the proposal. .
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“Conservatives support the men and women in blue, but they should also question whether the government should be involved in state and local law enforcement, even when it comes to funding,” the budget statement said. It is stated that.
The White House is also attacking Republicans over a proposal to defend what they call “constitutionally questionable red flag provisions in the so-called bipartisan Safe Zones Act.”
The White House also accuses House Republicans of taking steps to support “abolition of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).”
“Violent crime spiked under former President Biden, but this president quickly fought back and is now reversing that trend with historic crime declines,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital. I let him do it,” he said.
Bates said Biden has taken “unprecedented actions to hire more police officers and invest in effective crime reduction strategies and mental health services.”
A spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News Digital that House Republicans “oppose President Biden’s disastrous budget that would create $5 trillion in tax increases and the largest debt-to-GDP ratio in history.” . (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
“Joe Biden will push Congressional Republicans to defund the police, abolish law enforcement agencies like the FBI, implement strong crime prevention, and implement groundbreaking measures essential to combating gun violence.” We’re not going to roll back the bill,” Bates told FOX News Digital.
The White House touted Biden’s American Rescue Plan, saying it enabled communities across the country to invest more than $15 billion “to keep our communities safe and prevent crime.”
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“These include investments to avoid cuts to police budgets, hiring more police officers for safe, effective and accountable community policing, and ensuring first responders have the equipment they need to do their jobs. “This includes investments to expand community violence intervention and prevention programs,” White said. House said.
The White House announced that Biden’s budget also includes $1.2 billion over five years to establish a new Violent Crime Reduction and Prevention Fund.
“The President’s budget also funds the Safer America Plan, including hiring 100,000 additional police officers for effective and accountable community policing,” the White House said. Biden “wants to put $17.7 billion into the Department of Justice, including $2 billion for law enforcement agencies,” he added. Regarding ATF, it has increased by more than 30% since 2021. ”
But the RSC is now calling on the White House, saying it “needs relief” after Democratic-led cities “defunded their police departments,” resulting in a significant increase in COPS funding since the Trump administration. The budget bill points out that this is the case.
RSC told FOX News Digital that the White House is currently fixated on a debate that actually “highlights how Democrats are actually defunding police departments across the country.”
RSC general secretary Joe Barry told Fox News Digital: “Biden’s record on crime could not be more different than the conservatives’ record.” “The RSC’s budget does not subsidize sanctuary cities or local organizations that have embraced the movement to defund the police.”
Barry added: “We are committed to upholding the rule of law.”
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Additionally, a spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) told Fox News Digital that House Republicans “oppose President Biden’s disastrous budget that would create $5 trillion in tax increases and the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in history.” I’m doing it,” he said.
“In contrast, the House Republican budget would reduce the deficit by trillions of dollars and balance the budget for the next 10 years, while protecting Social Security and Medicare,” Johnson told Fox News Digital. Ta.
