Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced Rep. Jim Banks’ (R-IN) legislation in the Senate on Monday that would eliminate convicted rioters’ federal unemployment benefits and have the rioters pay for the cost of federal policing of riots.
Cotton announced that he would introduce Banks’ Support for Peaceful Protest Act in the Senate. In a statement on Monday, the Arkansas conservative said that the federal government should not subsidize rioting and looting.
Cotton said:
Currently, thugs and insurrectionists savaging communities around the country are eligible for unemployment benefits, paid for by the very taxpayers whose property they’ve destroyed. The federal government should not be subsidizing looting and arson. Our bill will not only halt unemployment benefits for rioters but also fine them to help cover additional policing cost.
When Banks introduced his legislation, he said that rioters need to feel the financial consequences of their actions.
The Hoosier conservative said:
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?
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.
Cotton’s cosponsorship of Banks’ legislation arises as unrest, rioting, and looting have continued in major cities across America.
Further, former Vice President Joe Biden blamed President Donald Trump for the escalating violence in America’s cities during a press conference on Monday.
“Incapable of facing the facts and incapable of healing. He doesn’t want to shed light, he wants to generate heat, and he’s ‘stroking’ violence in our cities,” Biden said.
“Fires are burning, and we have a president who fans the flames, rather than fighting the flames. But we must not burn, we have to build,” he added.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.