President Joe Biden sought to use his first State of the Union address to reject the push to defund police departments.
Biden addressed the call during his speech on Tuesday night, as he said, “We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police!”
“Fund them! Fund them! Fund them with resources and training they need to protect our communities,” he added.
The line drew a standing ovation from Republicans as well as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
Watch the video below:
Biden, with the money line for centrist Dems ahead of the midterms: "We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police. It's to fund the police! [Applause] Fund them! Fund them!" pic.twitter.com/kQO32CxUqf
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) March 2, 2022
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos last month that the push to decrease police departments’ budgets is “not the position of the Democratic party.”
Additionally, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) has raised concerns about using the phrase and warned that it could cost Democrats electorally.
Several progressive members of Congress, such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Cori Bush (D-Mo.), have been focal advocates for defunding the police.
As CBS News notes, “At its most basic, “defund the police” means reallocating money from policing to other agencies funded by local municipalities. Advocates are split on the question of how far it should go: whether to reduce funding and reform some aspects of policing, or completely abolish police forces as we know them.”
The phrase gained popularity in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in 2020.