The fact-checker of The Washington Post slammed the White House for falsely claiming that Republicans are the ones who are pushing “defunding the police.”
To be precise, Washington Post handed the Biden administration “Three Pinocchios” for their apparent lies.
The Washington Post just gave @PressSec and Democrats "Three Pinocchios" for their LIE that Republicans defunded the police.
Republicans will NEVER support the defund the police movement. #BackTheBlue
The same cannot be said about Democrats. https://t.co/0gywUBb8Om
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) July 7, 2021
This week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Biden’s senior adviser Cedric Richmond made remarks alleging that it was the GOP who wanted to cut police departments’ budget.
Their claims were bolstered by the GOP opposing the massive $1.9 trillion COVID relief package this year.
Kessler: Republicans decision to vote against the emergency fund is not a reduction of police funding
Meanwhile, Glenn Kessler from the Washington Post wrote that although GOP lawmakers opposed Biden’s COVID-19 relief package, not a single Republican voted to defund anything.
Kessler added that Democrats proposed a $350 billion emergency fund for state and local governments and Republican lawmakers voted against these funds. He added that the GOP’s decision to vote against the billion-dollar emergency fund is not a reduction.
In recent months, Biden has been resisting the calls of the Democrat Party to cut the budget for police and law enforcement.
However, the efforts made by his staff to throw the blame onto Republicans shows the apparent damage of that position.
Kessler also noted that although Biden announced last month he wants cities to tap into their $350 billion emergency fund for their police departments, there is no provision in the American Rescue Plan which mandates that these funds should go toward funding the police.
The fact-checker from The Washington Post also added that in response to questions about defunding the police, the White House claims Republicans are “effectively” attempting to defund the police through means of withholding support for the COVID-19 relief package and by voting against the $350 billion emergency fund.
Kessler: there is no provision in the $1.9 trillion package to support the claim Republicans wants to defund the police
Kessler concluded that there is no provision in the expensive COVID-19 relief package to support White House claims that GOP lawmakers want to defund the police.
He added that by looking at the bill itself, lawmakers provided no guarantee that the police department would get a slice of the $1.9 trillion package.
The American people remember who championed and cheered on the "defund the police" movement. With crime rates skyrocketing, we're now seeing the dangerous consequences of that mantra.https://t.co/EOygNoinIu
— Rep. Yvette Herrell (@RepHerrell) July 7, 2021
He added that voting against the bill is not the same as voting to cut funding for the police. So there is little basis to back the claim that Republicans support “defund the police.”
Even before Kessler wrote his comments about the claims of Psaki and Richmond, Republicans already reacted with outrage at the claims that they are the ones who want to cut funding for the police.
Senator Ted Cruz told Hannity last week that the claims of Biden’s staff can be likened to the statement that the Democrats are the ones who support building Trump’s border wall.
