“Congress must ensure that federal grant dollars … are not subsidizing programs and organizations at the state and local level that promote the Left’s pro-criminal agenda,” the memo states.
A new memo released by the Republican Study Committee has outlined the group of House conservatives' stance on law-and-order legislation, which would actively fight states that tend towards soft-on-crime actions.
The memo, obtained by RealClearPolitics, was released just six months before the midterm elections, where a large number of Democrat Congress members are retiring from their seats.
The memo outlines the historic rise in crime seen across the country in recent years, placing the blame with left-wing politicians' anti-law enforcement stance.
It notes that homicides rose 30 percent across the US in 2020, with major cities seeing another 5 percent increase in 2021. Murders of law enforcement officers rose 59 percent from levels set in 2020. It also noted a significant increase of drug seizures, gang activities, domestic violence, and the widespread emergence of retail theft rings.
The group said that democrats are responsible for this wave of crime, noting the emergence of the defund the police movement in 2020.
"The Left has allowed a culture built on hating the police to drive decisions surrounding law enforcement. The Defund the Police movement is without a doubt one of the greatest dangers to public safety in our nation's history, and Democrats are responsible for it," the memo states.
The memo lays out 11 proposed actions to curb the uptick in criminal activity across the country.
The first of which is a proposed "Concerned Citizens Bill of Rights," which states that the receiving of Department of Justice funding should be conditional on the adoption of pro-law enforcement measures.
These conditions are: "stop subsidizing pro-criminal activities," "crime wave transparency," "reining in rouge prosecutors," and "fighting no-cash bail."
"Congress must ensure that federal grant dollars designed to make American communities safer are not subsidizing programs and organizations at the state and local level that promote the Left's pro-criminal agenda," the memo states in regards to stopping the subsidizing of pro-criminal activities.
In regards to crime wave transparency, the memo states that police departments should "report crimes to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program," and that jurisdictions should "disclose policing policies that result in not enforcing certain crimes and should annually submit plans for reducing crime in order to receive federal taxpayer money."
The memo states that funding should be withheld from states where their "district attorneys' offices systematically decline to prosecute types of cases or charge certain crimes."
It also states that funding should not go to states that have no-cash bail laws, and that jurisdictions should be required to track and repot statistics regarding crimes committed by defendants while they are out on release during pre-trial.
The memo goes on to state that "Congress should ensure that the Department of Justice reinstitutes the Trump-era policy— rescinded by the Biden administration—that ensured federal prosecutors charged the highest offense rather than a lesser included offense as means of skirting mandatory minimums."
In regards to deterring drug trafficking, the Republican group says that lawmakers should strengthen federal criminal laws "by enhancing penalties against violent, repeat offenders. Often these violent, repeat offenders belong to gangs that subsist off of illegal activity, particularly conspiring with Mexican drug cartels to sell and distribute narcotics across the United States."
Speaking specifically on the deadly substance Fentanyl, which has flooded across the southern border, the group proposed that the substance and related substances be placed on the Schedule 1 list, and consider stronger penalties for the drug, including life sentences.
The group also proposes implementing policies to circumnavigate "rouge District Attorneys who refuse to prosecute criminals when there is a federal criminal statute that could also be used to bring charges."
The memo goes after the Biden administration for its border crisis, which is expected to increase when Title 42 is no longer enforced.
"This must include securing the border, faithfully enforcing U.S. immigration laws, and if necessary, taking steps to remove Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas from office," the memo states.
In regards to "anti-police education" seen in schools, especially following the death of George Floyd and the subsequent emergence of the Defund the Police movement, they state that "Conservatives must continue ongoing efforts to keep federal tax dollars from funding these dangerous ideologies, empower parents, and to advance school choice."
"Conservatives must recognize that the battle for our streets is also taking place in our nation's classrooms, where 'woke' teachers are indoctrinating our youth with radical ideologies, like Critical Race Theory, the Black Lives Matter agenda, and the Defund the Police movement that side with criminals over law abiding Americans," the memo states.
They also advocate for qualified immunity to be codified, on which they state "Protecting our nation's law enforcement from frivolous lawsuits is critical to ensuring that we are attracting quality officers to police agencies."
The memo also takes aim at Big Tech, stating that "For instance, Big Tech social media platforms should not be able to hide behind Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act when they knowingly share illegal content, such as child pornography—which has become an epidemic in recent years."
This section states that online marketplaces like Amazon should be held accountable for retail theft rings that sell stolen goods on their websites.
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Speaking in summary of the memo, the Republican Study Committee states that "there has been a systemic failure to contain crime in America" from he very top of the government all the way down.
"It stems from the dangerous belief that enforcing the law is somehow morally wrong or even racist. It has paralyzed law enforcement agencies at all levels and created prosecutors who would rather let a dangerous criminal walk out of jail than enforce the law. 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," the memo states.