Despite being among the most vocal advocates for “defunding the police,” four of the most radical far-left members of Congress, known as “The Squad,” have spent a collective total of over $48,000 on private security to protect themselves, according to the Washington Examiner.
The private security costs for Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) were revealed by data from the Federal Elections Commission, and covers the first three months of 2021. During that time span, Ocasio-Cortez spent about $3,000 per month for a total of $9,000 overall, with Omar spending a total of $3,103.61 during the same period, and Pressley spending $4,186.75. Bush by far spent the highest, at just over $32,000 during that period.
Altogether, the four members of Congress spent just over $48,000 on private security. Despite this, the four women are among the leading figures in the ongoing push by the far-left to “defund” police departments nationwide, and to outright abolish other law enforcement agencies such as ICE. Ocasio-Cortez even rejected the notion that they simply meant to “reform” the police, saying in a statement last June that “defunding police means defunding police. It does not mean budget tricks or funny math.”
To this end, such radicals have even come into conflict with leading figures in their party, including former President Barack Obama. After Obama publicly admitted that he thought defunding the police was a bad idea, Cori Bush – who is a freshman – responded with “it’s not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping our people alive. Defund the police.” Pressley even went so far as to declare that defunding the police “is simply about a refund. This is about true reparations.”