[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 22, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H2992]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  FUND THE POLICE FOR PEACEFUL STREETS

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, in June of last year, the city of 
Portland, Oregon, cut $16 million from their police budget, and shut 
down a unit of the police which was designed to reduce violence in the 
city.
  As Republicans predicted--and a lot of others--this has not led to 
peaceful streets. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has been forced to ask for 
more funding for police.
  This is not unique to Portland. Major cities across the U.S. have 
seen a spike in violent crime as they cut police budgets. Last year, 
New York City defunded their police department budget by about $1 
billion, or 9.2 percent. The result? Murder is up 17 percent; shooting 
incidents are up 77 percent. In Los Angeles, homicides are now up 23 
percent after a defunding.
  How much more evidence will the defund the police movement need 
before they admit they were wrong and innocent people are indeed being 
killed? On top of this, prosecutors in some areas are refusing to 
charge perpetrators and putting criminals back on our streets to 
continue their crimes.
  We must push back against these radicals who want to defund the 
police and stop this crime wave.

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