A GOP House subcommittee on Friday voted to advance legislation that would cut FBI funding by $1 billion to hold the agency “accountable for targeting everyday Americans.”
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies approved the bill, which includes a 9% cut in funding for the FBI, meaning a budget drop from $11.3 billion to $10.3 billion in 2024.
The legislation would reduce FBI salaries and expenses by $400 million and prevent the FBI from developing a new headquarters building in the National Capitol Region.
It would also reshape the FBI by prohibiting funds from being used to:
- Conduct a politically sensitive investigation until the Department of Justice establishes a policy requiring non-partisan career staff to oversee such probes.
- Pay the salary of any employee who is found to have retaliated against a whistleblower or suppressed an employee’s First Amendment rights.
- Conduct an interview unless that interview is recorded.
- Classify any communication as misinformation or censor lawful speech, and
- Pay the salary of any federal employee who fails to comply with a congressional subpoena.
Democrats slammed the legislation.
“This bill does defund law enforcement and takes funding away from programs that create good jobs,” said Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.
Republicans have “opted to defund law enforcement, science and rural development,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
