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Budget Cuts Series: Elimination of 'Peacemaker' Office Founded by Civil Rights Act
In Smart Dissent's Budget Cuts Series, we are examining the White House proposed budget cuts to learn what's hidden beneath the surface and later update based on Congressional budget proposals and actions. This is our second to focus on proposals related to 2019. Since Congress never got their act together for 2018, most of Trump's proposals didn't go into effect fortunately. For 2019, who knows?
The Trump administration has proposed the elimination of a historic Justice Department office known as the federal government’s “peacemakers.” The Justice Department’s Community Relations Service, a non-investigative office founded by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, provides communities facing racial and other conflict with confidential services to ease tensions.
Individuals who dedicate their lives to this cause have expressed their belief that this is a terrible decision.
Todd A. Cox, policy director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said that ending the Community Relations Service “by callously draining it of its resources is yet another move by this Administration to circumvent their legal obligations and strip minority communities of federal protections.
"We need the Justice Department’s ‘peacemakers’ now more than ever, and cutting off funding for the CRS ― like so much of Trump’s proposed budget ― is irresponsible and shameful,” Cox said.
Few details were offered by Trump's and Jeff Sessions' Department of Justice.
Justice Department official Lee Loftus called the Community Relations Service a “small entity in Justice today” and said it has just 54 authorized positions, not all of which are filled. The unit had a budget of about $15 million in recent years. Jobs will be cut as the office is eliminated.