The huge federal spending bill now being debated in Congress provides more than a billion dollars dollars for various public safety measures, says the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Justice Department budget.
Pending final approval by Congress, the measure provides more than $770 million for Byrne Justice Assistance grants that go to states and localities and $662.9 million for grants under the COPS policing program.
The committee says the bill includes a number of gun violence reduction grants, such as $135 million for STOP School Violence Act grants, $50 million for community-based violence intervention and prevention initiatives and $95 million to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check system.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would get $1.75 billion to strengthen enforcement efforts.
The House panel said it acted to promote justice and racial equality by voting for $15 million to fund the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016 and $125 million in grants for the Second Chance Act for former inmates.
The bill sets the cap on the federal Crime Victims Fund at $1.8 billion, below the current cap of $1.89 billion.
Although the anticrime numbers seem large, they are far below the billions of dollars sought by the Biden White House for local programs to reduce violence.
In a speech last week to the National Public Safety Partnership, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the Biden budget request for 2023 includes "almost $11.2 billion to tackle violent crime."