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Newly introduced House bill would block convicted rioters from receiving federal unemployment aid

By Emma Colton
August 30, 2020 09:39 AM

Republican Rep. Jim Banks introduced a bill that would block convicted rioters from receiving federal coronavirus unemployment benefits.

“Antifa thugs are descending on suffering communities, disrupting peaceful protests and leaving violence, looting and vandalism in their wake. They turned Milwaukee, Seattle and Portland into warzones, and now they’re moving the chaos to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Who knows which community is next?” Banks said in a press release. “Due to enhanced federal benefits, taxpayers are giving wages to jobless rioters that are destroying our communities. We need to cut them off from their funding and make them feel the full financial consequences of their actions.”

Banks introduced the Support Peaceful Protest Act last week, which would also hold convicted rioters financially accountable for the cost of federal policing during violent protests.

“If you’re convicted of a crime that caused more manpower and law enforcement officers to deal with it, then perhaps you should be on the hook to pay for that,” Banks said.

The Indiana congressman said he introduced the bill after an elderly couple was harassed by protesters when they left President Trump’s nomination acceptance speech on Thursday.

Jim Banks
@RepJimBanks
Hey @SpeakerPelosi, these are my constituents. They are good people.
If you told these mobs to stop, I have a feeling they would ...

Ari Fleischer
@AriFleischer
Doing this to an elderly couple, simply because they attended President Trump’s speech. Why?

12:22 PM · Aug 28, 2020

Riots and protests have spread across the country since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day, most notably in Portland, Seattle, and New York City.

Kenosha, Wisconsin, has also become a hotbed of protests and violence after the shooting of Jacob Blake last weekend. The city has seen repeated nights of looting, arson, and rioting, including the death of two people last week.

Trump has denounced the violence this summer, calling for law and order and for local leaders to control the civil unrest.

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Kenosha has been very quiet for the third night in a row or, since the National Guard has shown up. That’s the way it works, it’s all very simple. Portland, with a very ungifted mayor, should request help from the Federal Government. If lives are endangered, we’re going in!
1:11 AM · Aug 29, 2020

“Kenosha has been very quiet for the third night in a row or, since the National Guard has shown up. That’s the way it works, it’s all very simple. Portland, with a very ungifted mayor, should request help from the Federal Government. If lives are endangered, we’re going in!” Trump tweeted on Saturday before a person was shot and killed in Portland.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/newly-introduced-house-bill-would-block-convicted-rioters-from-receiving-federal-unemployment-aid