Some of those supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, including many progressive Democrats, have talked about defunding the police. They never suggested doing away with the police -- only taking some of the money and funding others to do the work that police are not adequately trained to do (like having mental health professionals handle calls regarding a mentally-ill person).
But Republicans saw an opportunity in that. That campaigned saying Democrats wanted to do away with the police. It wasn't true, but it scared a lot of people and probably did help the GOP in the election.
That's why it's strange that the Republicans in the U.S. Congress are doing the opposite of what they campaigned on. They are actually DEFUNDING THE POLICE (and many other services in both red and blue states). How are they doing this?
It looks like the Congress has agreed on another bailout bill, but because of Republican demands, that bill does not have any money to help states/cities meet their budget requirements.
States are not like the federal government. They can't print money and they can't run a deficit. They must live within the amount of money they take in (whether from taxes or other sources). And the pandemic has caused many states, both red and blue states, to spend more and take in less money. Many of those laid off can no longer pay in tax money, and the same is true of many businesses (who have had to close down or had their business hurt by the pandemic). But while taking in less money, the state governments have had to spend more money to take care of people sick with the coronavirus or doing without a job.
So, without federal money to help and being required to live on their real income, what are the state governments going to have to do to stay within the law? They are going to have to make massive cuts in services (and so will cities). That will undoubtably mean cuts to police departments and agencies (along with cuts to other departments and agencies).
While Democrats talked about changing how the police do their job, the Republicans are forcing police departments to cut the number of officers. That will make citizens less safe. In effect, the Republicans are DEFUNDING THE POLICE!
