Glenn Greenwald: The Capitol Police, Armed With $2 Billion in | G3 News

Glenn Greenwald: The Capitol Police, Armed With $2 Billion in New Funding, Expanding Operations Outside of D.C.

@G3News: The Capitol Police on Monday announced a multi-pronged plan to expand its operations.

Armed with close to $2 billion in additional spending which the House approved in May, the force intends for the first time to create a permanent presence outside of the Capitol, “opening Regional Field Offices in California and Florida with additional regions in the near future to investigate threats to Members of Congress.” The statement issued by Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman also vowed that the police force will continue its “pivot towards an intelligence-based protective agency.”

The significant budget increase was approved in the House by a single vote: 213-212. It was a close-to-absolute party-line vote: all Republicans voted against the increase while only three Democrats joined them. The three Democrats who joined the GOP to oppose this $2 billion in Capitol Police spending were all members of the so-called Squad who have spent years opposing increased police spending and thus voted consistently with their professed principles: Reps. Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley.

But the large spending increase nonetheless passed for one reason: three other Squad members voted “present” rather than “no” in order to ensure its passage: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Rashid Tlaib.
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