Press Releases

National Police Week begins tomorrow as crime across America surges and our police officers are under attack from violent criminals. America’s crime crisis is the direct result of President Biden and Congressional Democrats’ efforts to demonize and defund our law enforcement, as well as the soft-on-crime policies of Democrats across the country. As National Police Week begins, House Democrats are showing the American people their true priorities by bringing zero bills to the floor in support of law enforcement. DEMOCRATS’ CRIME CRISIS:

• So far in 2022, homicide rates have increased 48% compared to this time in 2020, according to the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
• Shootings of police officers have increased 38% compared to this time in 2020, according to the National Fraternal Order of Police.
  • 123 officers have been shot so far in 2022.
    • 19 of whom were killed, up 6% compared to 2020.
  • 39 officers have been shot in ambush-style attacks.
    • These attacks are up 56% compared to 2020.
• According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll of voters, Republicans beat Democrats by 12 points on handling crime, the highest in this poll’s 32-year history.
  • A Politico/Morning Consult poll shows 2 in 3 voters, 69% of Americans, think more police funding would decrease crime.
  • A new Ipsos poll also found that 64% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of crime.
• Under President Biden, more police officers were killed in the line of duty in 2021 than in any year since 1995.
  • In 2021, 73 police officers were killed – a 59% increase from 2020.
• In 2021, over a dozen U.S. cities set new homicide record.
• In 2021, there were 346 officers shot, 63 of whom were killed by gunfire.
• In 2021, there were 103 ambush-style attacks on law enforcement officers, a 115% increase from 2020.
• Progressive prosecutors are in cities that represent over 20% of the nation’s population.

• President Biden famously expressed support for the Defund the Police movement during an interview in 2020 but was forced to walk back his position after public backlash to his position.
• Vice President Kamala Harris applauded Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for defunding the police.
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “defunding police means defunding police,” arguing the cuts to the NYPD weren’t enough.
• Rep. Ayanna Pressley said she supports efforts to defund police departments.
• Rep. Rashida Tlaib called for ‘no more police.’
  • Tlaib’s campaign has paid over $150,000 to an anti-Semitic and defund the police activist, Rasha Mubarak.
• Rep. Ilhan Omar said “not only do we need to defund, we need to dismantle” Police Departments.
• Rep. Cori Bush spent over $70,000 on personal security from January through March of this year. In total, Bush has spent over $300,000 for this election cycle while simultaneously promising to defund the police for the rest of America.
  • Rep. Bush then doubled down in her support for defunding our police departments on Twitter, and in February, Bush said she would not stop calling for our police departments to be defunded.
  • In March, Bush called on her progressive colleagues to continue pushing the Defund the Police agenda.
• President Biden’s Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke supported efforts to “defund the police.”
• President Biden’s Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said officials must heed calls to “decrease police budgets and the scope, role, and responsibility of police in our lives.”
• President Biden’s Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh, proposed a budget to divert funding from law enforcement.

BOTTOM LINE: Americans are smart—they trust Republicans to handle crime far more than Democrats. House Republicans unequivocally stand with our law enforcement and remain committed to providing them with the funding they need to continue keeping our communities safe.