Defunding the police is not a policy the current Democratic Party endorses, Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-California), who recently announced she is running for reelection, said on Sunday.
Pelosi distancing her party from the movement came as a response to recent comments from Defund the Police supporter, Representative Cori Bush (D-Missouri). The first-time congresswoman was critical of Democrats more hesitant to embrace the controversial Defund the Police movement and slogan, which rose significantly in popularity during the Black Lives Matter protests across the country in 2020.
“Well, with all the respect in the world for Cori Bush, that is not the position of the Democratic Party,” Pelosi told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “Community safety, to protect and defend in every way, is our oath of office.”
The House speaker did acknowledge a need for police reforms, but declared Defund the Police “dead.”
“I quote one of my colleagues from New York, Ritchie Torres, a brand new member of Congress way on the left, saying that ‘defund the police’ is dead,” she said. “That causes a concern with a few in our caucus. But public safety is our responsibility.”
Bush told reporters last week that the Defund the Police movement is “not the problem” and she “absolutely” feels pressure from her colleagues to tone down her rhetoric on police reform.
“We dangled the carrot in front of people’s faces and said we can get it done and that Democrats deliver, when we haven’t totally delivered,” she said.