The Washington Post recently gave the White House “Three Pinocchios” for a claim by President Joe Biden’s senior adviser Cedric L. Richmond that the Republicans are defunding the police. The comment was made last month during an interview with Fox News.
During the interview, Richmond claimed that Republicans were blocking an emergency relief plan for cities that were “cash-strapped and laying off police and firefighters.” He said that the departments didn’t get funding until the American Rescue Plan and that was the only way that they were replenished. Richmond said that Republicans are very good at staying on talking points of who says ‘defund the police’ but that they actually defunded them.
Even White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki joined in on the ridiculous claim during a press briefing and insinuated that the funding was voted into law by Democrats. “Some might say that the other party was for defunding the police; I’ll let others say that, but that’s a piece,” she said.
Washington Post’s Salvador Rizzo writes in his article that Republicans were opposed to Biden’s coronavirus relief package, but that no one voted to cut or defund anything. He said that Republicans voted against the $350 billion in emergency COVID-19 related funds for state and local governments. That isn’t considered a reduction. Rizzo points out that ‘defund the police’ traditionally pushes for the redirection of funds to social programs, which was not on the table.
While President Biden talked about giving the cities money to hire additional police officers, there was no text in the American Rescue Plan that mandated those funds go towards policing. Police officers are a category of essential workers covered by the law, but lawmakers had “no guarantee” that police would get a slice of the pie in the coronavirus relief package. The bill mentioned the tourism, travel, and hospitality industries, as well as infrastructure. Law enforcement was not included.
“What’s more, voting against a one-time infusion of cash is not the same as voting to cut funding, so there is little basis to claim that Republicans are trying to ‘defund the police,’” Rizzo wrote.
The Washington Post notes that the only thing keeping them from giving the White House “Four Pinocchios” is their decision to mention the COPS program, which some Republicans did vote to cut funding for. However, the statements were taken out of context and the Biden Administration was pushing a narrative that was simply untrue. The White House is really trying to turn the tables with this talking point and it’s raising more than a few eyebrows. You know things are bad when a left-wing newspaper starts pointing out the obvious.
Sen. Ted Cruz said that the move is like ‘an arsonist showing up at the fire and blaming the firemen.” Crime has spiked in Dem-run cities due to their reckless policies and unmotivated police departments.
But White House officials like Andrew Bates continue to push the narrative that Biden “ran and won decisively on a platform of increasing funding for law enforcement.” He claimed that the Trump Administration spent their whole time campaigning against the COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) program and blocked “critical resources” needed to prevent the laying off of police officers. He even claims that Biden “inherited” higher crime rates and gun violence. Talk about refusing responsibility with crime and murder spiking.
New York Mayor Bill De Blasio alone took nearly a billion dollars from the NYPD budget and look what’s happened to New York. The democrats that run Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and many others, did the exact same thing. Republicans never said to defund the police, unlike the Democrats who said and did those exact things last summer. The Democrats know they are in trouble and are willing to say anything to take the heat off.
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