Fast Facts for June 23, 2021
Homicides and violent crimes have been spiking in towns – both big and small — across the country since 2020 and the trend is continuing into 2021.
To address it – today President Biden announced a 5-point crime prevention plan. That includes:
- Stemming the flow of guns used to commit violence by holding rogue firearms dealers accountable for violating federal background check laws and illegal sales through new ATF crackdowns
- Supporting local law enforcement with federal tools and resources
- Investing in evidence-based community violence intervention
- Expanding summer programming, employment opportunities and other services and support for teenagers and young adults.
- And helping formerly incarcerated people successfully reenter their communities.
Yes – you heard that correctly – the president wants to reallocate some money from the American Rescue stimulus package to *add* to local police and social service budgets. So they can hire officers and social workers to pre-pandemic levels. At the same time – he’s calling on congress to pass gun control laws. And reiterated and emphasized all the gun control executive actions i told you about in these videos.
The numbers don’t lie. According to the Major Cities Police Chiefs Association in 2020 – 33% of large cities saw an increase in homicides and 63 of the 66 largest police jurisdictions saw increases in at least one category of violent crimes including rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The FBI says overall crime was down in 2020 but the murder rate rose by 25%.
So what’s causing all this crime and violence?
Law enforcement and criminal justice experts blame several things for the cycle of violence – more guns on the streets, a deep mistrust between police departments and the communities they serve, poverty, and the mental and financial stress of the pandemic.
Read the white house fact sheet here.
PLUS
Finally a breakthrough!
A deal has been reached between a small group of senate democrats, republicans and the white house on a massive infrastructure stimulus plan.
According to Senators Romney and Manchin, the deal is a total of $1.2 trillion over the next 8 years with $579 billion dollars in new spending and apparently – it’s fully paid for.
Now – this is just a framework – just what they call a topline deal we don’t know all the details of what’s included and the legislation still needs to be written. But this 10-member group of senators will meet with President Biden tomorrow to brief him on it.
Keep in mind – the president originally proposed a two part infrastructure plan that I told you about in these two videos. Those plans totaled about $4 trillion. So this new framework is significantly less.
Now just because there’s a deal between this group and the white house doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. If the president signs off on it, then this group of 10 senators need to get the rest of the democrats and at least five more republicans on board – plus, convince the house this bill is enough.
