Indiana Rep. Jim Banks Introduces Bill to Keep Rioters from Receiving Federal Benefits

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced legislation on Friday that would make people arrested for rioting ineligible for federal benefits.

The bill, known as the “Support Peaceful Protest Act,” would require rioters who have been arrested for crimes such as looting, vandalism, or acts of violence to pay for the cost of policing that act and would also make them ineligible from receiving any sort of federal assistance.

“Antifa thugs are descending on suffering communities, disrupting peaceful protests and leaving violence, looting and vandalism in their wake. They turned Milwaukee, Seattle and Portland into warzones, and now they’re moving the chaos to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Who knows which community is next?” Banks said in a press release.

“Due to enhanced federal benefits, taxpayers are giving wages to jobless rioters that are destroying our communities. We need to cut them off from their funding and make them feel the full financial consequences of their actions,” the statement continued.

Banks added that while he supports peaceful protests, he believes that the majority of rioters are unemployed.

“Many of these people are not working,” Banks told WIBC. “They have the time to show up every day at some of these violent protests like in Washington, D.C. and they’re getting $600 a week of unemployment to do it, and that’s got to stop.”