Letter to the Hon. Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget - Ernst Urges Administration to Ban Taxpayer Money for Cities, States Allowing Anarchy

Letter

Dear Director Vought,

We write to urge you to exercise your authority to ensure taxpayer dollars are not used to promote anarchy. In recent weeks, mobs hijacked peaceful protests and vandalized cities, and State and local officials enabled and encouraged them. One egregious product of this encouragement of chaos are so-called "autonomous zones.'These anarchist zones are incompatible with the American commitment to its citizens that it is a nation based on laws. Most concerning, various city officials have used their platforms and taxpayer dollars to promote their existence, facilitate their expansion and clean up the destruction.

In Seattle, where an "autonomous zone' persisted for weeks and was only stopped after a string of shootings and murders, local officials' abysmal judgment has a budgetary effect, as the city wrestles with a $300 million revenue shortfall. Law abiding citizens should not have to pay for their abdication of responsibility. We ask that you scrutinize any future federal funding that flows to such lawless jurisdictions.

The federal government must ensure judicious and lawful use of taxpayer funds. With this responsibility in mind,we ask you to investigate and report the amount of taxpayer dollars local officials used to, encourage, sustain, bolster, supply or repair the damage in these anarchist "autonomous zones.'

In FY2019, the federal government provided the top 20 most populous U.S. cities over $88 billion in taxpayer dollars. That money comes from the people, and should have been spent to protect them, not put them in harm's way. The most fundamental duty of these cities is to provide security for law-abiding citizens. Instead, we have seen businesses destroyed and lives senselessly taken.Thank you for your time, and we look forward to your leadership in ensuring transparency for tax-payer dollars used to enable anarchy.

Sincerely,