House Democrats on Wednesday delayed a plan to fund the police amid infighting before midterm elections.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was unable to win enough support to fund police and has instead pushed the much needed funding off until the House returns after its August recess, Punchbowl News reported.
Establishment Democrats, such as Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), had been trying to pass the police funding for months to shore up their political vulnerabilities head of the election. But far-left Democrats, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), have opposed the funding of police.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) listens as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds a bill enrollment signing ceremony on June 17, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)
Establishment Democrat Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) slammed his party’s inability to fund police. “Shows where our priorities are,” Schrader told Punchbowl. “Communities are burning up, unsafe. My home area Portland, Oregon, is a wasteland at this point. Can’t even hire police. Police don’t even want to work given what’s going on. It’s not good, not healthy.”
People walk down 16th street after “Defund The Police” was painted on the street near the White House on June 8, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
The delay occurs as polling shows House Democrats are losing to Republicans by about ten points on the generic ballot. Republicans have been focused on funding the police during midterm campaigns, while Democrats are still reeling from advocating for defunding the police during the 2020 election.
Former President Donald Trump highlighted the Democrats’ soft on crime policies during his speech at the America First Policy Institute summit on Tuesday. “Under the Democrat rule, in Democrat-run cities, Democrat-run states and a Democrat-run federal government, the criminals have been given free rein more than ever before. There’s never been a time like this.”