Top House Republican calls for 200,000 more cops to reverse crime wave

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., is calling for the end of “soft on crime” policies supported by Democrats and a major effort to grow police forces.

Because of these policies, she said, criminals have become emboldened. That, in turn, has put both urban and rural communities at risk.

“We have increased crime, increased drug abuse, increased homicides, and break ins. It’s become a normal practice and people don’t feel safe on our streets” McMorris Rodgers told Newsmax hosts Shaune Kraisman and Emma Rechenberg on Thursday.

She said Republicans have introduced the Commitment to America plan that includes boosting the ranks of law enforcement by 200,000 more officers with bonuses and hiring incentives.

“This is a plan for a new direction, it restores hope and opportunities,” said McMorris

She said a Biden official confirmed to her House Energy and Commerce Committee that the southern border is primarily how drugs are getting into America. She claimed Mexican drug cartels with some help from Chinese chemical companies are moving enough fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, into the country for the drug to have become the number one killer of Americans ages 18 to 45.

“This drug is so dangerous and potent that just a few milligrams, which can fit in the ear of Lincoln on a penny, can be lethal,” said McMorris Rodgers. “A secure border is our strongest defense to crack down on Chinese illicit fentanyl, stop the cartels, and keep these weapon-grade poisons off our streets."

She accused Democrats in the congressional majority of failing to act on the Halt Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act that would give law enforcement more tools to fight trafficking distribution.

Anti-police rhetoric was supported by Democrats during the riots of 2020 and in subsequent legislation that has made it tougher for officers to do their jobs, she said.

The United States has experienced a 20-year high of intentional killings of police officers, she said.

McMorris Rodgers also lit into liberal prosecutors and judges intent on keeping criminals out of jails and prisons even when they have a long history of offenses.

The end result of all these policies, she said, is that the murder rate in the country is at the highest level in more than 20 years.

“It is these kinds of policies that are leading to our streets not being safe,” said McMorris Rodgers.