Far-left Squad members spent more than most congressional representatives on private security, even as as they backed legislation to defund and dismantle law enforcement, the New York Post reported.
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., spent almost $70,000 on personal security between April 15 and June 28—the most among the Squad members and the most in the House, according to Federal Election Commission reports.
Bush’s spending on private security is $20,000 more than the median household income in the district that she represents.
Bush, who often wears a Black Lives Matter or “Y’All Gone Stop Killing Us!” T-shirt, has also introduced and sponsored the most radical anti-law enforcement legislation in American history.
“I’m going to make sure I have security because, I know, I have had attempts on my life,” Bush said, according to the Daily Mail. “And I have too much work to do, there are too many people that need help right now, for me to allow that.”
“So if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend $10 more on it—you know what, I get to be here to do the work,” she said.
However, violence in St. Louis has prevented many of Bush’s constituents from doing their work. Homicide has claimed 130 lives in St. Louis so far this year, and 120 of those killed were black.
The Squad voted for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill that would give federal bureaucrats more power over local law-enforcement agencies, limit qualified immunity for police officers and prevent certain policing tactics, among other provisions.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., has spent almost $50,000 on personal security this year—$45,000 in the first quarter and $4,000 in the second quarter.
Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., spent much less than Bush and Ocasio-Cortez, but their spending still exceeded most other House representatives.
Pressley paid more than $4,000 in the first quarter for private security and more than $3,500 in the second quarter.
Omar spent about $3,000 in the first quarter and then $2,800 in the second quarter.
Pressley also sponsored the so-called BREATHE Act, which would eliminate federal agencies that enforce drug and immigration laws and phase out local police units that target those same crimes.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., the only male Squad member, supports the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act; yet, upon election to Congress in 2020, he immediately asked his local police department to provide security for him.
He directed the Yonkers Police Department in Westchester County, New York, to patrol his home and to protect him and his family from threats.
Bowman said the George Floyd Act laid the groundwork for police ‘reform’ but did not accomplish his ultimate goal: defunding and dismantling law enforcement.
He said police officers enforce “white supremacy.”
Keith Olson, Yonkers Police Benevolent Association president, said Bowman wants police protection for himself but not for his vulnerable constituents.
“Not long ago, the Congressman called for dramatically less policing in the most violent, crime-ridden neighborhoods,” Olson said. “Asking these same police officers to protect your family while creating policies that make communities of color less safe is simply disgraceful.”
