Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.), a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee that handles the budget for the U.S. Department of Justice, said Republicans are gathering in support to cut the department’s budget.
Cline, who is a member of the staunchly conservative House Freedom Caucus, said members of the caucus are leaning on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to implement deeper spending cuts after reaching a deal with President Joe Biden to raise the debt limit. A large number of Republican lawmakers, especially in the Freedom Caucus, opposed McCarthy’s debt limit agreement with Biden, saying the deal didn’t go far enough on spending cuts.
“We’re pushing the speaker to go below those levels, cut even deeper, especially in the Justice Department, FBI category,” Cline said in a radio interview with Washington Times reporter Kerry Pickett on Thursday.
Cline said the move to cut funding from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI already has the support of Subcommittee Chair Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and other key Republicans on the Appropriations Committee are amenable.
“Leadership is generally sharing our concerns,” Cline said.
NTD News reached out to Rogers as well as House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger for comment. Neither responded by the time this article was published.
Conservatives See Weaponization in DOJ, FBI
Many conservatives have taken issue with the direction of the DOJ and FBI in recent years, alleging widespread politicization and even weaponization against conservatives. Recent controversies involving the DOJ include efforts to investigate parents protesting curriculum items and COVID-19 measures at local school board meetings and efforts to infiltrate and surveil alleged radical Catholic congregations.
The FBI has also faced allegations of trying to entrap people in a plot to kidnap Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on the eve of the 2020 election. Two defendants in the alleged kidnapping plot were found not guilty after arguing FBI agents tried to entrap them.
In addition to targeting the political right, the FBI has appeared to slow-walk investigations into Biden and his family members. Leaked internal Twitter communications suggest the FBI sought to discredit negative reporting about Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. After Republican lawmakers alleged an FBI document described a bribery scheme involving the Biden family, FBI Director Chris Wray refused a subpoena to turn over the document and only shared it with lawmakers after Republicans threatened to hold him in contempt of Congress.
Another major point of focus for conservatives has been the DOJ’s treatment of former President Donald Trump, the current frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Last month, Special Counsel John Durham released a report showing instances of DOJ and FBI reliance on unvetted sources in pursuit of an investigation into allegations of collusion between Trump and the Russian government in the 2016 election.
Many prominent Republicans have again alleged political motivations inspired the recent decision by Special Counsel Jack Smith to indict Trump over his handling of classified documents and presidential records after leaving the White House.
Trump shared a call to defund the FBI and DOJ in April, as did Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
FBI Headquarters Move on Chopping Block
One major budget request that the FBI could lose out on is a new headquarters for the bureau. The Biden administration has been calling for a new FBI headquarters since at least March of last year, but the request faces growing pushback from Republicans amid concerns about politicization within the DOJ.
“With the abuses that have been going on at the FBI, there’s a real resistance to [a new FBI headquarters], not just in the Freedom Caucus, not just on the Appropriations Committee, but across the entire Republican conference,” Cline said. “So you are seeing pushback, and you are seeing a move to actually put the brakes on this new headquarters.”
Cline said one option might be to shift funds around within the component agencies in the DOJ, taking money away from the FBI and moving it to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He said DOJ funds could also go to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is organized under the Department of Homeland Security.
“You look at the crime in our cities, the drugs, the DEA needs funds, you know, we should redirect a lot of the money that is there in the FBI to the DEA to CPB to make sure that our border is secure, to make sure that these are the priorities,” Cline said.
Democrats Criticize DOJ, FBI Budget Cuts
Democrats have largely defended the DOJ and FBI against conservative claims that the government institutions have been politicized.
In a press conference this week, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) lambasted Republicans for defending Trump and insisted the former president was being held to a consistent standard of justice following the new federal indictment.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, has specifically condemned Republican talk of blocking the FBI headquarters move, telling Politico the idea would put “our national security at risk.”
“This blatant hypocrisy is yet another example of congressional Republicans’ choice to prioritize their own political agenda over the security of all American people,” Hoyer added.
NTD News reached out to Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), the ranking member on the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, for comment, but he did not respond by the time this article was published.
NTD News also contacted Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee. She also did not immediately respond.