An agreement by Congressional leaders to fund the U.S. Justice Department for the current fiscal year will reduce funding for many federal anticrime programs and the FBI.
The deal was announced on Sunday as part of a package of about half the appropriations bills, which Congress is expected to approve this week to avoid a partial government shutdown.
House Republicans say their cuts will help save taxpayers more than $200 billion over the next ten years. They say that the appropriations bills collectively "represent the first overall cut to non-defense, non-VA spending in almost a decade."
Among the cuts in a total DOJ budget of $37.52 billion are a 6% reduction in the FBI's spending and 7% to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The Byrne Justice Assistance Grant "formula" program, which provides funds for states and localities for a wide variety of anticrime programs, will be cut by 16%, or about $67 million. That is a reduction to the level of fiscal year 2020.
The COPS Hiring program and several other major projects also are being cut to their 2020 levels.
Many if not most of the justice assistance grant programs are reduced. Some are level funded but I don’t see any that are increased.
Republicans proclaimed that their reductions at the FBI and ATF "address the weaponization of the growing bureaucracy" in the two agencies.
The FBI's construction account is slashed by $621.9 million, a 95% cut.
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Despite the reductions in anticrime spending, Republican appropriators say they are maintaining "strong support for law enforcement through robust funding." They say the bill expands law enforcement efforts to combat human trafficking, including a focus on rural communities.
The measure prohibits DOJ "from targeting or investigating parents who exercise their right to free speech at local school board meetings.
In the Senate, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), chair of the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, said the bill focuses on "critically important needs like combatting violent crime and gun violence, supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and tackling the nation’s substance use disorder epidemic."
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