After more than a year of advocating to “defund the police,” House Democrats voted to pass a $1.9 billion emergency spending measure to increase their own Capitol security.
The bill, which narrowly passed 213-212, provides funding to hire and train more Capitol Police, bolster resources for its intelligence division, provide body cameras to officers who interact with the public, purchase new building cameras and screening vestibules, purchase new riot control equipment, and more.
According to NBC News, the measure also provides increased police protection for individual members of Congress. “The House sergeant-at-arms would also receive about $21 million to enhance security and threat assessments for members of Congress, for coordination of security for lawmakers when they travel and for the installation of cameras in members’ district offices back home.”
“The funding is not optional,” said Rep. Rose DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut who sponsored the legislation. She added,
It’s about protecting the seat of our democracy, and the men and the women of the young people who work here, and serve.
DeLauro is right. Funding the police is not optional. Baltimore, like the nation’s capital, learned this lesson the hard way.
After choosing to defund the city’s police department by $22 million last June, Baltimore is now increasing its police funding by $28 million. The boost comes amid a massive crime surge in Baltimore, including a 17% increase in homicides.
Similar stories happened in Los Angeles and New York City, which have both begun re-funding their police departments after defunding them last year and facing major crime spikes.
It’s reasonable to expect members of Congress to reassess security measures around the nation’s Capital following the January 6 attack. What’s unreasonable is the continued hypocrisy from the Left: Police for me, but not for thee.