Crime in American cities continues to be another symptom of the Democrats' flawed ideology and failed policies, and conservatives, while often critical of their counterparts across the aisle, don't always have a plan for how to solve the woes they highlight. But when it comes to the conservative stalwarts in the Republican Study Committee, they have a blueprint ready to go should the GOP retake the House of Representatives in November's midterms.
In a memo released Monday, RSC Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN) set forth his committee's priorities to fight the left's "pro-criminal agenda" with conservative policies.
Included in the RSC's proposal for conservative policies to crack down on crime is a "Concerned Citizens Bill of Rights" that would see the federal government "hold anti-police officials accountable for fostering a culture of crime within their jurisdictions by conditioning a state’s receipt of relevant DOJ grant funding on the adoption of certain pro-law enforcement measures."
As the RSC memo reminds:
While crime has been on the rise across the country, it is markedly worse in areas that have promoted the pro-criminal ideology of the radical left. According to annual FBI statistics, the U.S. experienced a 30% increase in murders in 2020, the single largest annual increase since it started keeping crime statistics 60 years ago. In 2021, in major American cities, murders jumped another 5% from 2020 levels. Meanhwile[sic], “Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; St. Paul, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; Tucson, Arizona; Toledo, Ohio; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Austin, Texas; Rochester, New York; and Albuquerque, New Mexico” all set homicide records.
In addition, increased gang activity has driven crime rates up, retail theft has plagued even ritzy shopping centers, domestic violence and aggravated assaults have increased, drug seizures are up, and the murder of law enforcement officers hit an all-time high in 2021.
The policies suggested by Banks' memo include preventing taxpayer dollars from being used to subsidize programs that promote leftist ideology as well as a requirement for state and local law enforcement agencies to report crimes to the FBI UCR program and submit plans on how they intend to reduce crime in order to receive federal funds. In addition, the RSC's memo calls for federal funding to be withheld from states where district attorneys go soft of crime or where "no-cash bail" laws have been passed.
The memo also outlines straightforward policies that Banks says would deter criminal violence and drug trafficking, sidestep rogue prosecutors, fight Biden's border crisis, hold big tech accountable when it facilitates or is complicit in criminal activity, demand transparency from the DOJ on soft-on-crime consent decrees, and enhance federal penalties for crimes against law enforcement officers.
Banks also calls for Congress to use its oversight of the District of Columbia to make the nation's capital city tough on crime again as an example of what strong law enforcement can do to improve a jurisdiction's safety and, when it comes to younger Americans, preventing tax dollars from funding Critical Race Theory, Black Lives Matter, or Defund the Police-based curriculum.
The bottom line, according to Chairman Banks and the Republican Study Committee? "Once again, Democrats have broken a part of our civil society, and once again it will be conservatives who will step up to piece it together."