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The
pandemic relief fund, passed by Democratic majorities in the
U.S. Congress and signed into law a year ago, was a signature
achievement of Biden's first year in office. State and local
governments were allotted $350 billion to be released in two
traunches, in May of 2021 and this month.
Senior administration officials said some $10 billion from the
rescue plan has been used by state and local governments to
bolster their police forces and support community programs aimed
at keeping neighborhoods safer.
Worry about crime and violence in the United States is at its
highest level since 2016, an April Gallup poll shows, amid a
surge in gun deaths in 2020. While some progressive Democrats
called for defunding police departments after a string of
high-profile slayings of black men by white officers, Biden has
stressed spending more on police.
Biden wants communities to "put more police officers on the beat
– with the resources, training, and accountability they need to
engage in effective community policing," the White House said.
Biden will meet Friday with local elected officials, chiefs of
police and a community violence intervention expert from cities
across America that have used rescue funds to help fight crime.
He will then deliver remarks in the Rose Garden noting state and
local leaders who are using American Rescue Plan funding for
safety measures, and call on other state and local leaders to
make similar investments quickly, the White House said.
"President Biden believes that the surge in gun violence that
has affected communities across the country over the last year
and a half is unacceptable, and his administration is moving
decisively to act with a whole-of-government approach as we
enter the summer months when cities typically experience a spike
in violence," the White House said.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Heather Timmons and
Stephen Coates)
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