House Republicans are moving to slash funding for the weaponized FBI as evidence continues to emerge exposing a pattern of an anti-conservative agenda.
Republicans on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies are seeking to cut $1 billion from the FBI’s budget.
The bill introducing the cuts was passed by Republicans and opposed by Democrats on the committee.
If the legislation becomes law, it would cut FBI funding by about 9%.
However, the bill will likely face an uphill battle in the Democrat-controlled Senate and be hit with pushback from the Biden White House.
The proposed bill also prevents funds from being used for the FBI’s “Office of Diversity and Inclusion.”
It also blocks other agency diversity offices that fall under the scope of the appropriations bill, which covers a variety of federal agencies including the Commerce Department and the Department of Justice.
The Commerce Department would also lose $1.4 in discretionary spending while the DOJ would have its funding cut by $2 billion.
“The bill holds the Department of Justice accountable and improves our immigration court system,” Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) said.
“It supports state and local law enforcement and provides critical resources to combat illegal drugs flooding our country.”
Lawmakers also took steps to shield whistleblowers from retaliation, including in the bill a provision to withhold salaries from federal employees who take action against whistleblowers and violate an employee’s First Amendment rights.
The whistleblower provision comes after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked the DOJ appropriations bill to contain language “prohibiting retaliation against FBI whistleblowers.”
The provision also includes prohibiting taxpayer dollars from going toward the salary of any official found to have retaliated against a whistleblower.
In order to protect free speech online, Jordan said the judiciary panel as well as his “Weaponization of the Federal Government” subcommittee want appropriations bills that explicitly block taxpayer funds from being used for censorship and to classify speech as “so-called ‘mis-, dis-, or mal-information.’
House Republicans have been hearing testimony from FBI and IRS whistleblowers in recent months.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley said he was retaliated against because he raised concerns about the DOJ.
“The actions taken by my leadership right now could be nothing but retaliation,” Shapley told Just the News earlier this month.
“They know what prohibited personnel practices are, and they know how to how to try to engage in retaliatory activities that somehow you obfuscate that piece, whether it’s a prohibited personnel practice.”