Congress Members Who Approve Militarization of U.S. Police Receive 73% More Money from Defense Industry
Americans of all stripes oppose the militarization of U.S. police forces.
For example:
- A December 2013 Reason-Rupe poll found that 58% of Americans thought that police militarization has gone too far
- A new Pew research poll shows that a plurality of people think that the police have gone too far in Ferguson, Missouri
So why does Congress continue to approve militarization? For the same reason that Congress members vote for NSA spying on Americans and go easy on Wall Street criminals: money.
Maplight reports that congress critters opposing Congressman Grayson’s bill to demilitarize police receive 73% more money than those voting for it:
International Business Times explains:
The group’s new report looked at a June congressional vote on legislation, offered by U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., that would have blocked the Pentagon from spending resources on transferring military hardware to local police agencies. The bill was defeated 62-355.
According to data compiled by Maplight, the lawmakers “voting to continue funding the 1033 Program have received, on average, 73 percent more money from the defense industry than representatives voting to defund it.” In all, the average lawmaker voting against the bill received more than $50,000 in campaign donations from the defense industry in the last two years. The report also found that of the 59 lawmakers who received more than $100,000 from defense contractors in the last two years, only four voted for Grayson’s legislation.