President Joe Biden on Thursday will announce his plan to reduce gun crime, outlining during a trip to Pennsylvania how his administration would spend the $37 billion in his 2023 budget request to “support law enforcement and crime prevention,” according to a White House fact sheet and senior administration officials.
Biden’s “Safer America Plan” details for the first time how the funding in his 2023 fiscal year budget proposal would be used to fight crime. The proposal, which does not include an allocation of existing funding, still requires congressional approval.
The proposed plan, according to the officials and fact sheet, would help police departments hire and train an additional 100,000 police officers, invest $3 billion to clear court backlogs, establish a new $15 billion grant program for cities and states over the next decade to help them prevent violent crime and “ease the burden on police officers by identifying non-violent situations that may merit a public health response or other response.” It would also invest an additional $5 billion in community violence intervention programs.
Additionally, the plan aims to take “additional commonsense steps” to reduce the proliferation of firearms through proposals, including increasing funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and urging Congress to pass legislation to strengthen background checks and ban assault weapons.
During his Thursday remarks, Biden will drive a “clear contrast” with congressional Republicans as he outlines how he and Democrats have “funded the police and taken action to fight crime while congressional Republicans have opposed these efforts at every turn,” according to one senior administration official.
