According to Politico, House Democrats have come to an agreement to support four bills dealing with community violence prevention and policing being brought to the floor for a vote, but if the vote on their first anodyne bit of legislation is any indication, House Republicans want violence to continue to be a talking point they can campaign on.
As the vote for HR 4118, the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, shows, the GOP (with one exception) won’t support any programs to help curb violence of any kind. The BCVA provides funding for local violence intervention programs as well as supporting Department of Labor job training and career counseling programs for at-risk individuals between the ages of 16 and 24. These are apparently bad things from the perspective of the GOP, whose members regularly decry the violence in “Democrat-run” cities; this bill would have addressed the issue in those “Democrat-run” cities, as well as the violence in Republican-run states, cities, municipalities, towns, boroughs, villages and rural postal delivery jurisdictions… ’cause violence isn’t just a city issue.
Additionally, 178 Republicans voted against HR 5768, the Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods (VICTIM) Act of 2022 which provides funding to local and state police forces and prosecutors to purchase or develop technology to help clear investigations into violent crime. Again, this is apparently a bad thing for Republicans… or at least, Republicans’ reelection campaigns.
One of the final two upcoming bills would fund additional police recruitment and training programs for local police. However, Republicans like Matt Gaetz took to the floor of the House to proclaim the federal government should help local law enforcement financially or any other way. While under investigation for alleged child sex trafficking and encouraging Donald Trump to ignore court-issued subpoenas, Gaetz said “the best thing [Congress] can do for law enforcement is get out of their way.” Apparently, he doesn’t think that holds true for federal law enforcement efforts.