President Biden on Wednesday repulsed the September memo from former President Donald Trump that instructed the federal bureaucracy to consider withdrawing funds from “anarchist jurisdictions,” including New York, Portland and Seattle.
The Trump order, first reported by The Post, was implemented by the White House Office of Administration and Budget and relied on the Justice Department to determine that the quotes tolerated the rise in violent crime or allowed violent protests.
Biden’s decision to revoke the order came on a list of Trump actions that he revoked through a single executive order. Other revoked Trump actions include a memo that promoted classic architecture for use in federal buildings.
The Biden order says that “heads of executive departments and agencies should immediately consider taking steps to terminate any orders, rules, regulations, guidelines or policies, or parts of them, by implementing or applying the identified presidential actions.”
The impact of the designation was potentially severe. New York City receives about $ 7 billion in annual federal aid. New York made the list for cutting $ 1 billion from the NYPD budget amid nearly triple the shootings in July and August.
The Trump administration’s designation put the three cities at a disadvantage in making federal funding decisions, as Trump routinely condemned their responses to crime and social unrest after George Floyd’s death.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki signaled during a news conference this month that the “anarchist jurisdiction” policy could be dropped.
“We are in a new administration and, of course, we are reviewing a series of policies and mapping out our own path. But I don’t think I will have any comment on the policies of a year ago from the previous government, ”said Psaki in response to a question from The Post.
Russ Vought, who was the director of Trump for the White House Office of Administration and Budget and one of the main proponents of the “anarchist” designation, told the Post this month that Biden should stick to politics.
“My hope is that the Biden government will refuse to subsidize the failed leadership at state and local levels with taxpayer dollars that has caused unrest and destruction in many communities. It is my hope, not my expectation, ”said Vought, who is now president of the Center for American Restoration.