Biden to Unveil Expanded Budget Plan With $37Bln for Law Enforcement, Crime Prevention

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden is planning to unveil on Thursday a bigger budget request to Congress with $37 billion in funding for law enforcement and crime prevention, the White House said.

"The President believes we can and must do more to reduce crime and save lives. Today, President Biden is building on this progress with his Safer America Plan. President Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget requests a fully paid-for new investment of approximately $35 billion to support law enforcement and crime prevention – in addition to the President’s $2 billion discretionary request for these same programs," the statement said.

The action plan is called the "Safer America Plan." It funds the police and seeks to promote an effective prosecution of crimes.

"The Safer America Plan will provide communities the resources they need to keep our streets safe, including by helping them hire and train 100,000 additional police officers for accountable community policing (nearly $13 billion over the next five years through the COPS Hiring Program) and setting aside dedicated funds for small law enforcement agencies," the statement read.

The plan also takes "additional commonsense steps on guns to keep dangerous firearms out of dangerous hands."

"The President will also continue to call on Congress to take additional actions on guns, including requiring background checks for all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, closing the dating violence restraining order loophole, and banning the manufacture, sale, or possession of unserialized "ghost guns," the White House said.

Last month, Biden signed a bipartisan gun bill into law. The legislation enhances background checks, restricts firearm ownership by convicted domestic abusers, while providing funding for "red flag" laws and mental healthcare, among other provisions. However, a ban on assault weapons appears unlikely due to opposition from Republicans.