Cheri
Beasley stated on October 7, 2022 in a debate:
Ted Budd “on four separate occasions voted against funding
for police here in North Carolina to the tune of more than $32 million.”
Beasley’s campaign cited massive
appropriations bills from 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018.
- Budd
says his opposition was unrelated to North Carolina’s law-enforcement
funding, which accounted for a small fraction of each bill’s total
spending.
- Beasley’s
math on the funding was also a little off.
Cheri Beasley, a former state Supreme Court chief justice,
is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Budd for the seat that will soon be
vacated by retiring Sen. Richard Burr. In a debate hosted by Spectrum News on Oct. 7,
Budd accused Beasley of being soft on crime.
Beasley fired back: "Congressman Budd, who talks about
being a friend of the police, on four separate occasions voted against funding
for police here in North Carolina to the tune of more than $32 million."
Did Budd really vote against bills that provided funding to
North Carolina law enforcement agencies?
Not exactly.
Beasley’s campaign cited Budd’s vote against several
appropriations bills that fund federal government operations for the coming
fiscal year. It’s fair to point out that the bills ultimately benefited North
Carolina law enforcement agencies.
However, Beasley’s claim is misleading in multiple ways:
- Her math was off. By her own campaign’s count, state
agencies received $32 million — not across four appropriations bills, but
five.
- The bills were massive. The bills directed money to
numerous federal projects and agencies, including the U.S. Department of
Justice. The department then awarded money to North Carolina law
enforcement agencies through three separate grant programs during those
four fiscal years.
- Budd says he opposed the bills for reasons unrelated to
North Carolina’s law-enforcement funding, which accounted for a small
fraction of each bill’s total spending.
Beasley’s claim is similar to others that cherry-pick small details out
of large spending bills to make a misleading point.
"It’s a classic D.C. parlor game of trying to force
members to vote for something 95% bad just to get the 5% good, and Ted does not
play that game," Jonathan Felts, Budd’s senior adviser, said in an email.
Budd opposed the bills because their price tags were too big
or because they didn’t do enough to secure the border, Felts said.
"Ted has always been very transparent that he opposes
running up the federal debt, no matter if it’s a Republican president or a
Democrat president," he said.
Law enforcement — and a lot more
The Beasley campaign cited Budd’s opposition to bills
enacted for fiscal years ending in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017. The
bills, each signed by then-President Donald Trump, featured different top-line
spending items and enjoyed varying levels of support from Congress.
Funding for police officers is primarily done locally, not
through Congress. Federal lawmakers do, however, set budgets for programs that
offer grants to local government agencies — and that’s what the Beasley
campaign is citing here.
Each of the bills funded the Edward
Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance grant program, the leading
federal source of criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions.
North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety also received funds through the
DOJ’s Anti-Heroin
Task Force, which finances investigations into the unlawful opioid distributions,
as well as its Anti-Methamphetamine Program, which provides
financial assistance to law enforcement agencies in states with high rates of
methamphetamine seizures.
The Justice Department’s Award
Announcement Map webpage allows users to search for grants
issued to North Carolina through the anti-heroin and anti-meth programs.
Here’s a brief summary of the bills, the political drama
surrounding each one, and the funding it provided to North Carolina law
enforcement agencies.
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021: The
House held two votes to pass different parts of this bill: voting 327-85 and
then 359-53 with Budd voting no both times. The Senate then passed it 92-6 and
Trump signed it into law in late 2020. The bill
featured a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package and $1.4 trillion to fund
federal government operations through September 2021. The Beasley campaign
noted that the justice assistance and anti-heroin programs then provided a
combined $7.1 million to North Carolina law enforcement agencies for fiscal
year 2021.
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020: The
House passed this bill 280-138, with Budd voting no, and the Senate supported
it 81-11 before Trump signed it in late 2019. It included
$1.4 trillion to fund federal government operations through the next September.
Among other things, it boosted funding for the military and aside nearly $1.4
billion fencing along the southern U.S. border. The Beasley campaign said the
bill provided a combined $6.6 million for North Carolina law enforcement
agencies through the justice assistance, anti-heroin and anti-meth
programs.
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019: Trump
signed this spending plan into law in February 2019 after a record 35-day
funding lapse forced 800,000 federal workers to go without paychecks through
Christmas and much of January, The Washington Post reported. It included $333
billion for federal government operations but didn’t include as much funding
for fencing along the border as Trump wanted, so he simultaneously announced
plans to acquire funding by declaring a national emergency. It passed the Senate 83-16
and the House 300-128, with Budd voting against it.
North Carolina law enforcement agencies later received $7.6
million through the justice assistance, anti-heroin and anti-meth programs.
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018: Trump
in March 2018 signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill that funded the government
through that September. Trump famously slammed the bill and said he would
"never sign" another one like it, partly because of its hasty
development and partly because it didn’t fund his goals. CNBC reported that
Trump tried to negotiate for more funding for a wall on
the southern border and used the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
immigration program as leverage, but it didn’t work. It passed the House
256-167, with Budd voting against it, and the Senate 65-32.
The Beasley campaign said the bill allotted a combined $5.5
million to law enforcement programs through the justice assistance and
anti-heroin grants. Altogether, the funding to North Carolina law enforcement
agencies through those four appropriations bills totalled about $26.8
million.
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017: The
House passed this $1.2 trillion bill 309-118, with Budd voting against it. The
Senate then passed it 79-18 and Trump signed it into law in May 2017. While the
bill boosted spending for the military and border security, Democrats were able
to block significant funding for a wall along the border and stop major cuts to
domestic programs that Trump wanted, CNBC reported.
The Beasley campaign said it also included $5.1 million in
grants in North Carolina law enforcement agencies through the justice
assistance and anti-meth programs.
Budd says he opposed spending bills, but not
because of law enforcement
The Budd campaign didn’t dispute that the appropriations
bills funded federal grant programs that helped North Carolina law enforcement
agencies. His campaign said he opposed the bills for a number of reasons, from
what he viewed as insufficient border wall funding to adding to the national
debt and contributing to inflation.
"By opposing these massive spending bills, Ted is
standing for: Fiscal responsibility, border security, balanced budget, not
paying people (to) not work, and against spiking inflation," Felts
said.
Budd’s campaign says other votes to fund law enforcement
show his commitment to police.
In approving the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 this
year, the U.S. House held two key votes to cover different parts of the bill.
Budd supported the part of the bill that
funded the U.S. Justice Department, which funds the justice assistance program.
North Carolina agencies received $5.5 million through the program for
fiscal year 2022.
Budd has also supported other bills that seek to fund law
enforcement agencies. He voted for the Invest to Protect Act of 2022, which would
provide $60 million each year from 2023 to 2027 to local governments that
employ fewer than 125 law enforcement officers. The bill awaits a hearing
in the Senate. In 2020, he introduced the Community Policing Act which would direct
the Justice Department to make grants available to law enforcement
agencies for de-escalation training and community outreach.
The Budd campaign also boasts endorsements from the North
Carolina Police Benevolent Association, the North Carolina Troopers Association
and the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police.
Our ruling
Beasley said that Budd, "on four separate occasions,
voted against funding for police here in North Carolina to the tune of more
than $32 million."
It’s fair to say that Budd voted against bills that funded
grants that ultimately sent funds to North Carolina law enforcement
agencies.
However, Beasley got her numbers mixed up. The funding was
included in massive spending plans that featured trillions of dollars for
federal government operations and other initiatives, from stimulus checks to
border wall funding. And Budd says he opposed the bills for reasons unrelated
to law enforcement funding.
Beasley cherry-picked small details of a massive spending
plan to make a misleading assertion. The claim has an element of truth but
ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.
We rate it Mostly False.
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