WP gives the White House a Bitch Slapping. The White House’s slipshod claim that Republicans are defunding the police.

Actual article can be found here.

WP gives the White House a Bitch Slapping. The White House’s slipshod claim that Republicans are defunding the police. As you know, Jan and the White House tried to say that Democrats were for funding the police, but Republicans were not. Well the Washington Post exposed that lie.

In response to our questions, White House officials said Republicans were “effectively” trying to defund the police by withholding support for the coronavirus relief package and by proposing to claw back some of the $350 billion in state and local aid amid ongoing infrastructure negotiations.

The Pinocchio Test

We often fact-check claims in which huge spending bills are reduced to one cherry-picked expense out of thousands.In this case, there’s not even a line item to attach to the White House’s claim that Republicans are trying to defund the police.The American Rescue Plan devoted $350 billion to “state and local aid,” a pot of money that was designed for a variety of budget-plugging purposes. 

Among those is keeping police, teachers and emergency medical technicians at work, but going strictly by the bill text, lawmakers had no guarantee that police would get a slice of the pie.What’s more, voting against a one-time infusion of cash is not the same as voting to cut funding, so there is little basis to claim that Republicans are trying to “defund the police.” 

The Washington Post, , however, did not mention all the times the Democrats have used “defund the police” rhetoric. Breitbart News compiled the many instances of the anti-police rhetoric from the Democrats as follows:

• President Joe Biden said he supported reallocating police resources during his campaign.
• Vice President Kamala Harris said “I applaud Eric Garcetti” for defunding the Los Angeles police, and said “we have to reimagine public safety” while discussing lowering the police presence in communities.
• Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said officials must heed calls to “decrease police budgets and the scope, role, and responsibility of police in our lives.”
• As Boston’s mayor, Biden’s secretary of labor, Marty Walsh, proposed a budget to divert funding from law enforcement.
• Biden’s Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke wrote an op-ed for Newsweek in 2020 supporting efforts to “defund the police.”
• Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) called the Minneapolis City Council “very thoughtful” for voting to dismantle the police.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and fellow House Democrats refused to criticize the Minneapolis City Council for defunding the police.
• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) told protestors to “get more confrontational” with police.
• Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) called for dismantling the Minneapolis Police Department.
• Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) called for defunding police as a congresswoman-elect.
• A Democratic National Convention panelist advocated for defunding the police.
• A Minneapolis City Council member defended defunding the police, but said she didn’t “have all the answers” on who would respond to violent crime.
• House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) compared federal law enforcement to the Nazi Gestapo. He later ignored looting and arson in D.C., claiming the only violence he saw in the city was from police.
• Democrat Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he doesn’t want police officers to respond to rape.
• Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) said he supported Maxine Waters’ call to confront the police.

Three Pinocchios