What do you think of when you hear the word “police”? A badge? A traffic ticket? A neighborhood patrol? There is much more to “policing” in a democracy.
Mitch McConnell is “clutching his pearls while having a fainting spell” over the phrase defund the police, and has faked outrage over protesters pushing public officials to reevaluate the nation’s police budgets. In fact, he would have us believe he loves law enforcement and “the police.”
But here’s the thing – even as he is waxing indignant about the calls for justice when it comes to law enforcement, he has eagerly pushed to defund the “police” charged with protecting us from the world’s most dangerous and powerful corporate criminals.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Even as McConnell is waxing indignant about the calls for justice when it comes to law enforcement, he has eagerly pushed to defund the “police” charged with protecting us from the world’s most dangerous and powerful corporate criminals.” quote=”Even as McConnell is waxing indignant about the calls for justice when it comes to law enforcement, he has eagerly pushed to defund the “police” charged with protecting us from the world’s most dangerous and powerful corporate criminals.”]
Here are the police agencies McConnell has helped defund
By ignoring over 400 bills on his desk in the last 4 years, Mitch McConnell has defunded the following oversight “policing” agencies:
- The US Chemical Safety Board, which “polices” major industrial accidents.
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which “polices” corporations’ compliance with civil rights laws.
- The Consumer Products Safety Commission, which “polices” industries to make sure their products don’t harm or kill people. The agency now acknowledges that its “funding level has been insufficient to keep pace with the evolving consumer product marketplace.”
- The Internal Revenue Service, which is responsible for making sure the wealthy and large corporations pay their taxes. Because of this defunding of the IRS, the agency “conducted 675,000 fewer audits in 2017 than it did in 2010, a drop of 42 percent,” according to ProPublica. With 30,000 fewer “tax police” on the beat, a recent Treasury Department report found that 800,000 high-income households have not paid more the more than $45 billion they owe in back taxes.
- The Department of Labor, which “polices” employers to make sure they aren’t stealing wages, breaking workplace safety rules, ignoring overtime laws, and/or violating workers’ union rights. There are now fewer ”police” scrutinizing employers than ever before, and workplace inspections have plummeted – as workplace injuries, deaths, and disasters have increased.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission’s reserve fund, which was established after the 2008 financial crisis to bolster the agency’s work of “policing” Wall Street. The agency reports that the number of staff supporting their investigation and litigation efforts are 9 percent lower today than at the start of Trump’s term. And now, white-collar prosecutions have hit a historic low thanks to AG William Barr, Trump’s “personal” lawyer who has squashed all investigations that might touch the Trump/McConnell administration.
- The Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for “policing” polluters. Trump’s first budget proposed to reduce EPA spending on civil and criminal enforcement by almost 60 percent, and to lay off 200 environmental staff responsible for tracking down polluters. The EPA has fewer than half of the criminal special agents on the job than during the George W. Bush administration. Trump’s most recent budget cuts “will hamper the EPA’s efforts to link contamination at hazardous waste sites to companies and others that may be responsible for the pollution,” putting millions of Americans at risk of ingesting carcinogens, according to David Sirota, columnist for the Guardian
But wait, there’s more!
- The agencies that “police” corporate mergers. This effort to “defund the antitrust police” has come as mergers have accelerated.
- The independent “policing” agency that has oversight of possible agribusiness monopolies.
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which “polices” the financial industry and works to protect consumers from fraud.
- The offices that “police” federal agencies and root out waste, fraud, and abuse.
- The federal program that “polices” local law enforcement agencies.
By doing nothing to provide rigorous, fully-funded oversight, Mitch McConnell demonstrates loud and clear he does not care about us citizens, but only his donors. McConnell’s efforts to “defund the police” have created corporate lawlessness and workplace disorder. And yet, that hasn’t been mentioned by the Republican politicians and Fox News pundits pretending to be appalled by peaceful protesters’ demands for a change in criminal justice priorities.
We are supposed to be horrified by proposals to reduce funding for the militarized “police” forces that are killing young black citizens and attacking peaceful protesters while protecting violent right wing groups like the Proud Boys – but we’re supposed to obediently accept defunding the “police” responsible for protecting all of us from the wealthy and powerful.
Therefore, a new nickname for Senator McConnell.
We’ve all heard the monikers given to Mitch McConnell by himself and others: “Moscow Mitch,” “Grim Reaper,” and “Cocaine Mitch.”
Because of his ongoing efforts to eliminate the agencies that keep us safe, I propose a new one: Mitch McConnell, Defunder of the Police!
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