House Democrats, eager to escape criticism that their policies are leading to an increase in crime and lawlessness, sought to flip the narrative on Tuesday by accusing the GOP of failing to support the police by blocking key legislation.
MCCARTHY: NO WAY PELOSI’S APPOINTING GOP MEMBERS ON JAN. 6 COMMITTEE
“We’re not going to be lectured about so-called law and order by a party that is leaning into lawlessness and disorder,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Tuesday.
Democrats say the GOP’s refusal to support the creation of an independent commission to examine the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol undermines the dozens of police officers who were hurt in the attack. Three officers died following the incident, including two who committed suicide and one who died of a stroke.
Republicans, Jeffries said, “are people who are denying what took place on Jan. 6.”
Most Republicans opposed the creation of the commission, arguing it was not needed due to committee and Justice Department investigations and could be used as a political weapon.
The attack on the Capitol was carried out by a mob of angry, pro-Trump protesters bent on stopping the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory, and the panel planned to examine the groups behind the attack and the motivations for it.
The House this week will vote on a measure that will instead create a select committee to examine the incident, made up mostly of Democrats. It’s not clear whether the GOP will participate at all, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she may include a GOP lawmaker.
Democrats, meanwhile, have fielded criticism for supporting efforts to defund the police and for backing local policies that undermine law enforcement and that have allowed suspected criminals to remain out of jail. Homicide rates and other violent crimes are on the rise in some cities, while hundreds of departments have seen budgets shrink and officers quit.
But Democrats argued Tuesday that it is the GOP defunding law enforcement when Republicans voted unanimously in May against a $1.3 billion emergency spending bill aimed at shoring up Capitol security.
“We’re not going to be lectured to by folks who don’t believe in supporting our police officers, as evidenced by the supplemental that we passed here,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat and vice chairman of the caucus. “We put in resources to protect our Capitol Police officers and to protect this dome. Where were the Republicans? We’re not going to be lectured by folks who don’t support our own Capitol Police officers.”
The GOP’s campaign arm has been targeting Democrats on the issue of policing, emphasizing the struggles big cities are having with recruitment and retention of law enforcement officers since the May 2020 killing of George Floyd sparked a nationwide social justice movement.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Democrats’ vicious attacks on law enforcement are causing the men and women who keep our communities safe to leave the profession,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Berg said in a statement. “Democrats and their calls to defund the police are directly responsible for the crime wave we’re seeing nationwide.”
On Sunday, Biden adviser Cedric Richmond said Democrats, not Republicans, back additional police funding, pointing to the last round of COVID-19 aid, which included $350 billion in state and local funding he said was used to fund police departments.
