House Democrats were largely against a resolution supporting law enforcement amid a spike in assaults on police last year.
Just 29 House Democrats voted for a Republican measure praising the “extraordinary sacrifice” of law enforcement officers and denouncing the “defund the police” campaign for endangering public safety.
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However, 173 Democrats voted against the motion, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and every GOP representative in attendance voted in favor.
“We want to take that best practice of respecting law enforcement in Iowa to the nation’s capital, and I was thrilled that we got bipartisan support,” Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, who introduced the measure, said in an interview with Fox News.
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But the Iowa Republican said he expected his resolution to receive unanimous backing.
“I think it unfortunately puts a real spotlight on a chasm we have between those who support law and order and those who are supporting those who undermine it,” Nunn said.
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The decision follows a rise in assaults against law enforcement officers to a 10-year high last year, an F.B.I. report released Monday showed.
The number of officers murdered declined somewhat from 2024 to 2025.
Some Democrats likely bristled at language in the resolution criticizing left-wing activists for backing the defund the police campaign and sanctuary city policies that put officers’ safety at danger.
“Whereas rhetoric and policies from leftist activists and progressive politicians seek to defund or dismantle local police departments undermine public safety and place both officers and the communities they serve at greater risk,” the resolution states, in part.
Nunn’s measure also lauded the Trump administration’s tough law and order policies for leading to a record reduction in violent crime, including the United States achieving its lowest homicide rate in more than a century last year.
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“We are at a 125-year low for murder rates, 10-year low for drug overdoses,” Nunn told Fox News Digital. “These are things that good community policing, that our law enforcement officers are doing every day, have had a really positive impact.”
Most of the Democrats who supported the resolution are up for re-election this November in tight races.
But a handful of vulnerable Democrats, including Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., voted against the motion.
Reps. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., and Johnny Olszewski, D-Md., voted present.
The vote took place during National Police Week, a time to recognize the service and sacrifice of dead law enforcement officers across the country.
“To the families of those fallen heroes and those who continue to stand guard in our communities: we have your back,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday at a candlelight vigil to commemorate fallen officers. “We’ll continue to advance policies here that support law enforcement and bring justice to those who seek to harm officers.”
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This week, Republicans in the House are also introducing a package of anti-crime bills.
One of these bills would force the attorney general to make a list of all the state and local governments that have adopted cashless bail policies.
GOP lawmakers have harshly criticized these policies because they let repeat criminals stay out of jail while they wait for their trials.
The move comes just hours after Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves canceled a special legislative session on redistricting, citing a favorable federal appeals court ruling that eliminated the immediate need to redraw state Supreme Court districts.
But the Republican governor made clear that congressional map changes — including potential moves to reshape or eliminate the majority-Black 2nd District long held by Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson — remain firmly on the table for action
The cancellation of the May 20 session came one day after the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court order that had found Mississippi’s Supreme Court districts violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting power.
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