Hi  -- I wanted to share this article from the "Wall Street Journal" on the bipartisan Invest to Protect Act, the bipartisan bill I crafted and helped pass with 360 votes in the House yesterday. It will ensure that we fund, not defund, our hometown police departments, so that our officers have the critical resources they need to protect our families and themselves. It was backed and informed by, among others, two major national and local police unions -- NAPO(including our state PBA) and the FOP. We worked closely with our co-lead and former sheriff Rep. John Rutherford, the Congressional Black Caucus and Chairwoman Joyce Beatty, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, and others.

We can't defund our way to public safety. We need to have the backs of the officers who protect us daily and get them the critical resources they need, with accountability, to recruit and retain the finest officers, complete critical safety trainings, and provide mental health resources. As NYC Mayor Adams said, "I don't subscribe to the belief of some that we can only have justice and not public safety. We will have them both." We must fund, not defund, our law enforcement. Here is a link to the article: [link removed]

I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks and stay safe!  

Yours,
Josh


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House Approves Legislation to Boost Police Funding, as Democrats Parry Campaign Criticism

Bills aren’t expected to move forward in Senate, but vulnerable Democrats are eager to fend off Republican ads accusing them of being antipolice

WASHINGTON—House Democrats passed bills that would give millions of dollars in grants to police agencies, even as resistance from some progressives showed how difficult the issue has become for the party.

The votes on Thursday were designed to help vulnerable Democrats, some of whom are being accused of being antipolice in midterm campaign ads, to convey to voters that they want to combat rising crime rates and support law enforcement. The bills aren't expected to move forward in the Senate or become law, and Republicans suggested the votes were a campaign-season stunt. A recent NBC News poll found that Republicans had a 23-point edge over Democrats on the question of which party was better at addressing crime as an issue.

"We must fund, not defund, law enforcement," said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.), whose bill would authorize $60 million a year for five years for local police departments with fewer than 125 officers, for hiring and training, including for de-escalation of conflict. Some progressives pushed for more accountability measures for police officers in the legislation.

Mr. Gottheimer's bill passed on a 360-64 vote, with nine Democrats and 55 Republicans voting against it.

"The last two and a half years has left law enforcement demoralized like never before," said Rep. John Rutherford (R., Fla.), a Republican who backed it. "They need this assistance as they have law-enforcement officers leaving in droves."

Even as Republicans supported some of the legislation Thursday, they also criticized the majority party's motives. "This is a way for Democrats to simply check a box," said Rep. Greg Pence (R., Ind.) during the floor debate.

Some Democrats called to "defund the police" after George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis in 2020, setting off nationwide protests over the use of force against Black Americans. Republicans have since accused much of the party of supporting the effort to defund police . A lengthy bipartisan effort to overhaul police accountability and tactics fell apart in 2021 when the two parties couldn't reach agreement.

Three other bills also addressed aspects of policing and were led by Democrats, with a bill by Rep. Katie Porter (D., Calif.) that would provide grant funding to encourage police departments to send mental-health units to address crises; another from Rep. Val Demings (D., Fla.) to hire victim-support personnel and investigators to solve unsolved homicides and violent crimes; and one by Rep. Steven Horsford (D., Nev.) to give community violence-prevention grants to local groups and governments.

Of her bill, Ms. Demings, a former Orlando police chief who is running for Senate in Florida said "as someone who spent 27 years at the police department, we need to solve those homicides to get those dangerous people off the street and bring some closure to the families."

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said Republicans tried to amend the bills to ban agencies that had cut funding to police departments from receiving grants, but the effort was rejected. "Faced with an election just a month away, House Democrats now want to pretend they actually support law enforcement," he said.

Democrats are now pushing back against Republican criticisms on the campaign trail.

On Thursday, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a vulnerable Democrat running in Virginia, released an ad highlighting her backing for "more funding for law enforcement." The former Central Intelligence Agency officer is running against Yesli Vega, a deputy sheriff for Prince William County.

The four bills were the result of months of negotiations between centrist Democrats, progressives and Black lawmakers. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) and Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.) were among the progressives who came around to supporting Mr. Gottheimer's bill and encouraged others to do so.

The policing bills barely cleared a procedural hurdle earlier in the day, where they were voted on as a package and a handful of progressive Democrats—including Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Cori Bush (Mo.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.)—opposed them. A spokeswoman for Ms. Bush complained that "even the most bare-bones accountability measures…were not incorporated into the Rep. Gottheimer bill."

When the tally was 216 to 215, with one Democrat voting present, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) asked Rep. Diana DeGette (D., Colo.) for three more minutes so a Republican running late could vote. Ms. DeGette responded by closing the vote.







 






 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 



 


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| Paid for by Josh Gottheimer for Congress |
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Josh Gottheimer for Congress
PO Box 584
Ridgewood NJ 07451 United States

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