President Donald Trump is reviewing options to defund some of America’s most chaotic cities as Democrat leaders mull defunding the police.
The president signed a memorandum on Wednesday evening directing Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Voight to require each federal agency to identify federal funds used for the cities of Seattle, New York City, Portland, and Washington, D.C.
OMB has 31 days to deliver the report.
“Without law and order, democracy cannot function. Americans cannot exercise their rights, including their rights to peaceful expression, assembly, and protest. Property is destroyed, and innocent citizens are injured or killed,” the memo reads.
The president has not pulled the trigger on any federal defunding options yet, but the White House plans to use information from the agency report to make any future decisions.
“Unfortunately, anarchy has recently beset some of our States and cities,” the memo continues. “For the past few months, several State and local governments have contributed to the violence and destruction in their jurisdictions by failing to enforce the law, disempowering and significantly defunding their police departments, and refusing to accept offers of Federal law enforcement assistance.”
The memorandum asks Attorney General Bill Barr and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to identify jurisdictions that are preventing police officers from doing their jobs, defunding their police departments, refusing assistance from federal law enforcement.
The DOJ and DHS report is due in 14 days.
“We are taking action by exploring all options to ensure Federal resources flowing to lawless cities aren’t being squandered,” Vought said in a statement to Breitbart News. “The lack of law and order surrounding these riots, and response from local leadership, is a dereliction of duty.”