On Tuesday, President Joe Biden accused Republicans of advocating for “defunding the police,” despite the fact that the majority of the GOP supports law enforcement, and the call for cutting police budgets originated from the Democratic Party in 2020.
Biden: “MAGA Republicans are calling for defunding the police department.” pic.twitter.com/FUiFNXAf5I
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 9, 2023
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Biden spoke at a recreation center in Monterey Park, California, where he announced an executive order containing new gun control measures. The order seeks to increase background checks for gun purchases, encourage “red flag” orders, and publicize federal records on violations by firearms dealers. It has met with opposition from Republicans.
Biden urged congressional Republicans to pass his budget instead of cutting services, defunding the police, or abolishing the FBI. While some Republicans have suggested abolishing the FBI, calls for defunding police departments have largely come from Democrats since the George Floyd riots in 2020.
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Vice President Kamala Harris recently praised L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plan to cut up to $150 million from the city’s police budget.
Funding for police departments is typically a local issue, and GOP governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Texas’ Greg Abbott have been strong supporters of the police.
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9 mins of @TheDemocrats saying defund police@JoeBiden @KamalaHarris @RepJeffries @ericswalwell @GavinNewsom @tedlieu @RepAdamSchiff: United in election denial, identity politics and failure
— 📺 (@thomvolz) March 13, 2023
However, activists advocating for defunding the police have visited the White House or met with White House aides, as revealed by White House visitor logs last June.
Some of these activists include Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change; Carmen Rojas, president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation; Latosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter; and Tylik McMillan, National Director of Youth [and] College at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.
Color of Change aimed to “dismantle” and replace the Minneapolis Police Department in 2021, and created a petition titled “TAKE ACTION: Defund the police, and invest in communities now!” The Marguerite Casey Foundation tweeted “#DefundthePolice” in March 2022.
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In contrast, President Biden did not support the defunding of police budgets, and police reform has been a contentious issue within the Democratic Party.
The police funding debate continues to divide the nation, with Republicans pushing for stronger support of law enforcement and some Democrats advocating for reallocating resources to address social and economic issues.
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During a Bronx event Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “If we want to reduce violent crime, if we want to reduce the number of people in our jails, the answer is to stop building more of them,’”
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