Every member of the far-left “Squad” and dozens of other House Democrats voted Friday against a resolution condemning calls to “defund the police,” which have preceded a record-breaking spike in violence against law enforcement officers.
The House still overwhelmingly passed the measure in a bipartisan 337-61 vote, denouncing the anti-cop movement, declaring support for officers in the line of duty and expressing condolences to the family members of those who have been killed while serving.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) opposed the measure, along with more than 50 other Democrats.
Following widespread riots in the summer of 2020, Democratic leaders like then-House Majority Whip Jim Cyburn of South Carolina blamed their far-left flank for dragging down the party in the subsequent election with the “defund the police” movement — and President Biden and others have since tried to flip the script by dinging Republicans for opposing federal funding to the FBI.
“The ascendancy of violent anti-police radicals in our society is condemnable, and today’s House Republican-led effort to condemn pro-criminal actors and their violent ‘defund the police’ ideology while simultaneously signaling our full support for law enforcement professionals is a step in the right direction to restoring sanity to our national discussion on policing,” said Long Island GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a former NYPD detective.
No Republicans voted against the measure.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), a former Duluth police lieutenant who railed against Democrats who “vilify law enforcement” on the House floor ahead of the vote.
“The cavalier attitude of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is unconscionable,” Stauber shouted. “Where were they during the summer of 2020?”
The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin that year ignited widespread violence in America’s cities — and led to a record-breaking surge of police deaths in subsequent years.
In 2021, 586 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty — the deadliest year on record.
The following year, 224 cops were killed on duty, and 137 died in 2023.
Shootings of police officers reached their highest levels last year, with 378 recorded and 115 of those involving ambush attacks.
While serving as a police officer in the 1990s, Stauber was shot in the head while off duty by a convicted criminal with a long rap sheet and nearly executed by a suspect who tried to gun him down at close range, only for the weapon to misfire.
On Thursday, the Minnesotan recalled the words of the widow of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller, who was shot and killed in March.
“How many more police officers and how many more families have to make the ultimate sacrifice before we start protecting them?” 29-year-old widow Stephanie Diller said through tears in her husband’s eulogy.
Tensions have flared throughout National Police Week in Washington, with Republicans and Democrats both pointing fingers at each other for failing to back law enforcement.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans held a candlelight vigil on Tuesday to honor fallen police officers.
“These men and women — all of our law enforcement — are the men and women who pursue justice, maintain order, and guard the safety of our communities from crime and chaos,” Johnson (R-La.) said.
“We mourn because they were taken too soon, but in their supreme sacrifice, these officers have shown the greatest form of love: the act of laying down one’s life for others.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized Johnson and Republicans in a Thursday press conference for not backing Capitol Police who “saved lives” of members and staff during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Jeffries (D-NY) claimed that the GOP conference had delayed putting up a plaque to honor the Capitol Police officers, which had been authorized in a 2022 government funding bill.
“There’s no indication as to why it has taken so long when the law requires memorial recognition, and it clearly is the right thing to do,” the House minority leader said.
Johnson’s office later said the speaker was coordinating with the Architect of the Capitol to mount the plaque.
