The White House distanced itself from the “defund the police” movement by endorsing Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s proposal to hire 100,000 new cops, according to a press release from the Office of Josh Hawley.
Hawley introduced legislation in June to combat spiking crime rates. The legislative agenda included hiring 100,000 new police officers, increasing penalties for assaulting officers, protecting the privacy of law enforcement officials, expanding concealed carry rights for judges and prosecutors and creating a criminal offense for targeting officers based on their occupation, according to the Office of Josh Hawley. (RELATED: ‘Under Siege’: Republican Sen. Josh Hawley Introduces Bill To Give A Raise To Police Officers Amid Calls To Defund The Police)
The vast majority of Senate Democrats voted in support of Hawley’s proposal Wednesday and the White House endorsed it Thursday.
NEWS: White House endorses my proposal for 100,000 NEW cops on the street. It’s about time Joe Biden stood up to the anti-cop, #DefundThePolice extremists in his party in the House cc: @CoriBush https://t.co/losnfeSgW1
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 12, 2021
All but one Senate Democrat voted tonight for my amendment for 100,000 NEW cops on the street – so I’m inviting each of them to become cosponsors of my legislation. Here’s an opportunity for Dems to acknowledge they’ve been wrong the whole last year. We need MORE police funding pic.twitter.com/3uCW5z7W7Y
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 11, 2021
“American families aren’t safe, but they deserve to be. And they can be if we will act. This is not the time to defund the police or vilify them, but to support the brave men and women in blue – and put more of them on the streets. Immediately,” said Hawley about his proposal.