The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, H.R. 3355

[txradioguy]

I got to thinking the other day when I started hearing about"special commissions" to investigate alleged police brutality and the AG directing that local police departments teach "de-biasing" classes, it got me to thinking about where the ground work for all of this was laid.  My memory was further jogged when I heard mention of the Feds yanking grants and/or funds if they didn't comply.

A little bit of nadin-ing brought me back to where (in my opinion) it all started.  H.R. 3355 signed into law in 1994 by Bill Clinton.

While most people were focused on the Federal Assault Weapons Ban portion of the law, included in there was 356 pages providing for 100,000 new police officers, $9.7 billion in funding for prisons and $6.1 billion in funding for prevention programs.

Now as we all know...once a program is put into law...Congress...regardless of who controls it...never does away with it.

So here we are today, this Administration and it's Progressive strap hangers are pushing to nationalize local police departments in the wake of a the shooting in Ferguson and the death of the perp in MYC who was resisting arrest, telling the municipalities that either they adhere to the new dictates coming down from on high, or they get their Federal funds pulled and subsequently bankrupted as the U.S. AG drags them through litigation hell.

Once again the differences in strategy between the Dems and the Republicans in on full display here.  They crafted a bill 20 years ago knowing it would come in handy down the road when they got their next change to advance their Utopian designs on the country.  And the GOP Controlled House bought hook line and sinker into it because after all...who wants to get caught voting against safety for local neighborhoods right?

Now it's time to pay the piper and there's no such thing as coincidence.  The current AG was a deputy AG 20 years ago under Clinton and he knew those federal $$$ were still being handed out and that he could use that money as a club to beat the police departments into submission.

 

[DumbAss Tanker]

IIRC the 100,000 cops thing was temporary Federal funding for one or two years, then it fell back on the non-Federal jurisdiction to pick up the tab, which a large percentage of them didn't, so the Clintoon Machine was never able to claim it as any great accomplishment.  But your basic point is correct, the Federal method of grabbing power is to hook the state or local entity on a grant stream and all the entanglements that go with it (Especially in education), then make the future blood supply contingent on following Federal dictates in an area where they don't have primary Constitutional jurisdiction.

[Ralph Wiggum]

IIRC the 100,000 cops thing was temporary Federal funding for one or two years, then it fell back on the non-Federal jurisdiction to pick up the tab, which a large percentage of them didn't, so the Clintoon Machine was never able to claim it as any great accomplishment.  But your basic point is correct, the Federal method of grabbing power is to hook the state or local entity on a grant stream and all the entanglements that go with it (Especially in education), then make the future blood supply contingent on following Federal dictates in an area where they don't have primary Constitutional jurisdiction.

That was also part of the Dick Morris "triangulation" effort for the Clinton machine.  Fund new cops for 1-2 years, then force the financial burden onto the states.  If the individual states didn't maintain the funding, voila!  Something evil and mean Republicans won't pay for, and gets the Feds back into paying for it.  It made Clinton come out smelling like a rose either way.

[DumbAss Tanker]

That was also part of the Dick Morris "triangulation" effort for the Clinton machine.  Fund new cops for 1-2 years, then force the financial burden onto the states.  If the individual states didn't maintain the funding, voila!  Something evil and mean Republicans won't pay for, and gets the Feds back into paying for it.  It made Clinton come out smelling like a rose either way.

Although it got nowhere even in the middle future, since most of those jurisdictions that didn't do so initially at the end of the federal money stream found themselves desperate for budget cuts around the turn of the century and cut the slots they had funded.  Like Obamacare, it was a timebomb that was only going to look like a success through the end of the next election cycle, after which its failings would become glaringly obvious to even many Democrats.