GOP Debt-Limit Plan Will Slash Police Budget

Topline

The White House launched a new attack on the House GOP’s debt limit bill on Wednesday, claiming that the proposed spending cuts included in the legislation would slash funding for nearly every federal law enforcement agency and have a trickle-down effect on local police departments—the latest attempt by the White House to pin the “defund the police” narrative on Republicans.

US President Joe Biden speaks from the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 1, … [+] 2023. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

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Key Facts

The House GOP bill passed last week to raise the debt limit includes broad spending cuts the White House claims amount to “the biggest vote to defund law enforcement in American history,” Biden officials told the Washington Examiner.

The bill—which includes a $4.5 trillion reduction in government spending and a $1.5 trillion debt-limit hike through March of next year—would force furloughs of DEA agents and layoffs among border patrols, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Bureau of Prisons, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates wrote in a memo set to be sent to White House allies on Wednesday.

The memo also claims the cuts would eliminate federal funding for local law enforcement agencies through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, effectively reducing hiring in more than half of the country’s local police departments over the next five years.

The move is the latest by the White House and Democrats to distance themselves from the “defund the police” narrative that gained prominence during the police-brutality protests in 2020.

In April, the White House also used the attack line against the GOP regarding its proposed cuts to the ATF, the agency that polices federal gun violations and has been a target for Republicans and gun-rights activists for years.

Surprising Fact

Former President Donald Trump has also urged Republican lawmakers to “defund the DOJ and the FBI,” he wrote on Truth Social a day after his historic indictment in Manhattan Criminal Court, part of his push to cast himself as the victim of law enforcement agencies he claims have been hijacked by the left to prevent him from being re-elected president.

Crucial Quote

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre honed in on the narrative Wednesday, accusing Republicans of prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy over law enforcement funding. “The president has long said and you’ve heard me say this as well, and he said this many many times: Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value,” she told reporters during a press briefing. “Unfortunately, the Republican spending plan shows that they value tax giveaways to the rich more than they value law enforcement who keep our community safe.”

Contra

House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) defended the proposed cuts on Wednesday, telling the Examiner border patrol agents need a shift in budgetary and policy priorities, rather than additional money. “They’re willing and able to do the job,” Perry said. “They need a president and a secretary of homeland security who will enforce current law.”

Key Background

The White House push-back comes as Biden and House Republicans are deadlocked in negotiations over raising the $31.4 trillion federal debt limit as the Treasury could run out of cash as soon as June 1. The House passed the “Limit, Save, Grow Act” last week along party lines, tying the debt limit increase to a host of Republican spending and policy priorities, but the bill faces slim chances of passing the Senate in its existing form and Biden has said he will veto the legislation. Instead, the president wants Republicans to negotiate spending cuts through the fiscal year 2024 budget, which is due by the end of September, and has said he will not agree to any debt ceiling increase tied to other conditions.

Tangent

Biden on Tuesday accused the GOP of failing to protect veterans from their proposed cuts, tweeting “Did the bill say: ‘This does NOT apply to veterans benefits?’” paired with a photo of a flow chart that mockingly explains to Republicans how their plan would slash veterans’ benefits. GOP lawmakers have repeatedly said military and veterans spending would be excluded from the funding rollbacks, but the White House claims the legislation didn’t specify that provision. The Department of Veterans Affairs has also warned that the bill would amount to a 22% reduction in veterans services. Republicans broadly denied the accusation and alleged the White House was “shamelessly lying to the American people,” GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik tweeted.