Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy declined to permit White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to attribute the dramatic increases in violence and crime in cities governed by Democratic politicians and district attorneys to Republicans.
Doocy noted that three armed assailants had allegedly carjacked Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas in Washington, D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood earlier this month as an example to back his point.
Jean-Pierre gave President Joe Biden credit for signing legislation that provides funding for additional police officers while accusing Republicans of not aiding the effort by voting against the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act due largely to their cost and predominance of left-wing Democrat priorities.
“Well, my first follow-up would be, how are you gonna blame Republicans for this? Isn’t D.C. run by a bunch of Democrats?” Doocy asked.
“I’m gonna speak to what the president has done,” Jean-Pierre replied. “The president has been very, very straightforward about what he has done to make sure communities are safe. The American Rescue Plan, not one Republican in Congress voted for it. Not one.
“There were billions of dollars in that plan, in that act, to make sure communities across the country got funding so they can indeed hire more police officers so that they can keep their communities safe. Republicans had nothing to do with that. They were not involved in that. They decided not to vote on the American Rescue Plan. That’s just a fact,” she added.
“So if President Biden’s policies are helping bring crime down, would he be comfortable with somebody borrowing his Corvette and parking it on the street overnight in Southeast D.C.?” Doocy asked.
“I’m not gonna get into hypotheticals. I’m just gonna get into the facts about what this president has done in this presidency,” KJP responded.
Doocy posed the question of whether or not members of Congress are safe on D.C. streets, to which the White House expressed its gratitude that Cuellar was unharmed.
The Daily Caller added:
Three assailants allegedly carjacked Cuellar at gunpoint as he attempted to park his vehicle at his residence Monday night. Cuellar told reporters Tuesday he had to “keep calm” in the situation and allowed the armed perpetrators to take the car.
The Metropolitan Police Department and Capitol Police recovered the vehicle and all of his other belongings, including his phone and sushi, within about two hours, Cuellar told reporters.
Republicans opposed to the American Rescue Plan, which was promoted as a COVID relief measure, highlighted that only 10 percent of the $1.9 trillion went towards actual public health and that most of the measure was packed with spending on favored Democratic priorities.
They also noted that 95 percent of money earmarked for education would not be spent in 2021 when the bill passed, but rather between 2022 and 2028.
Furthermore, they argued that another relief package was unnecessary at this point in time since five such bills had already been passed by Congress and there is an increasing national debt currently standing at over $33 trillion.
“Biden’s economic approval ratings have hit an all-time low as his administration continues to push the claim that ‘Bidenomics’ is working, according to a poll released by Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) on Monday,” The Daily Caller reported earlier this month, citing the survey’s results.
“Approximately 56% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s economic policies as opposed to 24% who approve, a swift drop from the reported 50%-31% in September, according to IBD. The low ratings underscore the problems straining the U.S. economy as inflation continues to rise while wages are by and large failing to keep pace,” the outlet continued.
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