Federal taxpayers should not get stuck with the bill to care for and clean up anarchy hot spots in major cities, including Seattle and Portland, Oregon, and the White House must make sure the Treasury doesn’t fund “lawless jurisdictions,” House and Senate Republicans are urging.
Some 18 lawmakers, including six senators, on Tuesday demanded in a letter to the White House budget office that no federal dollars be used to “encourage, sustain, bolster, supply or repair the damage in these anarchist ‘autonomous zones,'” in part because local authorities and politicians are encouraging them.
“We write to urge you to exercise your authority to ensure taxpayer dollars are not used to promote anarchy,” read the letter shared with Secrets.
“In recent weeks, mobs hijacked peaceful protests and vandalized cities, and state and local officials enabled and encouraged them. One egregious product of this encouragement of chaos are so-called ‘autonomous zones.’ These anarchist zones are incompatible with the American commitment to its citizens that it is a nation based on laws. Most concerning, various city officials have used their platforms and taxpayer dollars to promote their existence, facilitate their expansion, and clean up the destruction,” it added.
The letter to the Office of Management and Budget comes as the administration is in a battle with the media to tell its story about the violence against federal agents in the zones, most recently in Portland.
“These are not peaceful protests. This is violent, criminal activity. And when they show up directed at law enforcement, it’s terrorism. Law enforcement officers and agents have been targeted in the attacks,” said acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli.
The letter, whose signers include Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, takes the issue further. In it, the lawmakers want to defund any city action related to the zones.
“That money comes from the people and should have been spent to protect them, not put them in harm’s way. The most fundamental duty of these cities is to provide security for law-abiding citizens. Instead, we have seen businesses destroyed and lives senselessly taken,” read the letter, shown in full below.
