(Headline USA) More than 100 Democrats voted on Thursday against a resolution condemning efforts to defund the police.
The House resolution, which passed in a vote of 301-119, praised the “dedication and devotion demonstrated by the men and women of local law enforcement who keep our communities safe” and condemned “calls to defund, disband, dismantle, or abolish the police.”
The only lawmakers who voted “no” were Democrats, with three other Democrats opting to vote “present.”
During debate over the bill, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, dismissed the resolution as “nothing more than empty rhetoric designed to score political points.”
Nadler also took issue with a section of the resolution that blasted “leftist activists and progressive politicians” who “called for the defunding and dismantling of local police departments across the country and actively encouraged resentment toward local law enforcement.”
“It talks about leftist violence, but it refuses to talk about right-wing violence,” Nadler said, citing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “It is not a balanced or fair resolution.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash, chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, also blasted the resolution.
“I resent the characterization that somehow we progressives do not support law enforcement just because we want to have accountability in our community so that black and brown people can walk down the street and feel safe,” she claimed.
In response, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., quoted a news article in which Jayapal advocated for defunding law enforcement.
“Law enforcement as a whole has a culture of brutality that you cannot deny if you look at all of these incidents. Most of the protesters are calling for a complete transformation of policing,” Jayapal said in the article.
Likewise, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., read out a quote from Nadler, who said there should be “substantial cuts to the police budget” in New York.
