GOP Budget Would Defund the Police, Shows New Data from Budget Committee Democrats

WASHINGTON, D.C. –This National Police Week, House Budget Committee Democrats released new state and local data highlighting the impacts of the GOP’s proposed cuts to law enforcement funding:

“Even police officers aren’t safe from the GOP’s obsession with gutting vital programs,” said Ranking Member Boyle. “While President Biden’s 2025 budget would put more cops on the beat, the latest Republican attempt to defund the police would gut the Department of Justice’s COPS office, which has helped our communities fund over 8,200 officer positions in the last eight years. Unfortunately for our House Republican colleagues, this week’s bills won’t be enough to hide the cuts they’ve proposed to law enforcement funding or the way they turned their backs on the officers who protected our democracy on January 6th.”

House Republicans Have Repeatedly Supported Cuts to Law Enforcement Funding:

• With the Default on America Act, House Republicans attempted to slash funding for the Department of Justice by over $8 billion.
• Their attempts to gut law enforcement funding during the 2024 appropriations process would have eliminated hundreds of local law enforcement positions and slashed approximately 11,000 FBI personnel.
• At Donald Trump’s behest, Republicans recently killed a bipartisan border deal, which would have provided critical resources requested by the Biden Administration.
• Now, the 2025 Republican Study Committee Budget, which has the support of 80 percent of House Republicans and 100 percent of House Republican leadership, proposes defunding the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office.

The COPS Office Provides Vital Support for Local Law Enforcement:

• Since 2016, the COPS Hiring Program has provided $1.1 billion to fund over 8,200 law enforcement positions across America.
• Research from Princeton University found that each additional COPS-funded officer is associated with 2.9 fewer violent crimes and 16.23 fewer property crimes per 10,000 residents in the year following their hiring.
• Under President Biden, who voted to create the COPS Office as a Senator, the COPS Hiring Program has funded over 3,700 officers in 500 communities.
• Since 2009, the COPS Office has provided $2.2 billion in grants for local law enforcement to improve hiring, training, equipment, and more.

State-by-state information on the DOJ COPS Hiring Program since 2016 can be found here. Additional district-level information on total grant funding provided by the DOJ COPS Office since 2009 can be found here.

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