Police reforms have become the top priority issue of the modern-day United States, where some lawmakers are favoring reforming the police, while others are equating it with defunding the police.
While Democrats have passed the $3.5 trillion budget resolution without any help from Republicans, Tommy Tuberville, a Republican Senator, moved on to creating drama in the Senate to raise an issue that was irrelevant for the budget, police funding.
A proposal by Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville was put forward aimed at eliminating federal funding to the localities that defund the police. The proposal was aimed at embarrassing the Democratic Senators on the issue of defunding the police but was sarcastically dealt with by the Democratic Senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker.
Police reform is a much-needed legislative action, but it must not be equated with defunding the police at any cost.
Politicizing the Bills is the Republicans’ Favorite Measure: This Time It’s Tommy Tuberville Who is in Action
During the debate on Democrat’s $3.5 trillion budget resolution, the Alabama freshman Senator offered a proposal that would reduce or even eliminate federal funding to the localities that defund the police.
Tuberville opined that the men and women wearing badges are the heroes of the country and deserve support from lawmakers.
He declared that the local governments of Portland and Minneapolis had defunded the police, and there is no reason that other states should also follow them in this step.
Senator Tuberville has also offered the Empowering Law Enforcement Act, which would allow law enforcement in states and local leaders to enforce the immigration policies of the United States. Republicans consider him as a champion of law enforcement and a mouthpiece of law enforcement officers.
However, Senator Tuberville only put forth this proposal to embarrass Democratic Senators who have been talking about defunding the police.
This was a politically devastating proposal that would only provoke terror and grudging admiration.
The critical race theory has received unprecedented significance in the United States since the murder of George Floyd, and the rising discussion of the woke culture is further adding crispness to this debate.
One faction of Democrats is highly driven by the woke issues, which is also one of the contributing reasons for the shrinking Democrats’ popularity. Republicans are leaving no stone unturned to exploit this weak area of the Democrats as the 2022 Senate midterm elections near.
What is All This Fuss About?
Since the outcry of reconsidering police funding in the aftermath of the increasing Blacks’ murders by police, at least twenty major cities have introduced police funding cuts in one form or another, and Republicans are not big fans of them.
This is primarily the reason behind Tommy Tuberville’s proposal of cutting the finances of the localities involved in this practice.
The cities in the discussion include Los Angles, Seattle, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Baltimore, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and many others.
While the slogan of defunding the police has become an unpopular approach to dealing with the issue, introducing police reforms should never be considered an attempt to defund the institution.
In the United States, police are often overburdened with tasks that do not fall under their domain. This overpowers police without enacting much accountability. A prominent example of this is the authority of police to deal with mental health patients, which puts the lives of the patients at risk.
But cutting the funding per Tuberville’s vision is also not an option, as it would incentivize the lawmakers for not introducing any type of policy reforms.
Final Thoughts
The Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville’s move seems to be more likely a tool to embarrass the Democrats rather than an amendment to seriously pursue.
This is the reason the amendment proposal ended up with the sarcastic comments of Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who termed the proposal as a “political gift.”
Defunding the police became a national sentiment after the deaths of George Floyd and many other Black Americans by police officers.
There is enough data to prove now that the US police forces are far behind in terms of organization and training but ahead in the use of force by police officers.
The deteriorating relations of minorities with police also suggest that police reforms are the need of the hour, and the cities and localities introducing them must not be deterred at any cost.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.