Sen. John Kennedy slammed an ambitious bill proposed by Democrats to defund police departments and provide reparations by those who have been victims of law enforcement violence.
“[The bill] is clearly a serious effort to compete in the woke Olympics,” Kennedy told Fox News’s Trace Gallagher on Wednesday. “I’d give it, I don’t know, 9.7. As an American who feels gratitude, not hatred, for my country, though, the only way I know how to improve their bill is with the shredder.”
The bill, spearheaded by Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, would create sweeping legislative changes such as reallocating funds from federal and local police to social welfare, healthcare, education, and environmental programs. The bill also would introduce two proposals for reparations, including one for black people and the other to victims of police violence, and would end the use electronic monitoring, including ankle monitors, and make recommendations to reduce the Defense Department’s budget.
Public pressure to restructure policing in the United States follows the unrest sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Protests that began demanding justice for Floyd’s death escalated into calls to defund the police and to remove broader symbols of racism and historical oppression.
Kennedy disavowed calls to “defund” law enforcement, alluding that it would break down society.
“A civilization in order to be civilized has to have a set of rules and someone to enforce them, and we’re seeing what happens across America, mainly in our urban areas now, when we don’t enforce our law and we don’t have police to enforce those laws,” he said. “But in terms of the bill, that the two congresswomen are offering, I don’t think anybody in the Senate is taking it very seriously.”
Kennedy added that there are fundamental values that people will continue to disagree on, most notably on the historical legacy of the country.
“I think it’s great that we live in the country where the two congresswomen have the right to say what they want, but we also have the right to disagree with them,” he said.
“I believe in free enterprise. They’re Marxists,” he continued. “I believe in equal opportunity, they believe in government-guaranteed equal outcome. They don’t believe in the Second Amendment. I believe that love is the answer, but I also want a handgun just in case. They hate cops just because they’re cops. I don’t. They think most Americans are racist. I don’t. I’m proud of the fact that we’ve passed 20 civil rights bills and amendments. It’s a fundamental disagreement, and I don’t think their bill will go very far. But as I said, it’s a serious effort to compete in the woke Olympics.”
