Biden White House says congressional Republicans trying to 'defund' police, FBI amid crime crisis

foxnews.com:

The White House is slamming congressional Republicans, accusing them of working to "defund the police," "defund the FBI" and choosing the "gun lobby over the fight against gun crime" by opposing assault weapons ban legislation backed by President Biden and Democrats.

The White House told Fox News Digital that they are going on offense in an attempt to hold Republicans accountable for obstructing legislation that would ban assault weapons.

The official told Fox News Digital that the American people "know" that the passage of the assault weapons ban legislation is "key to taking on the rise in violent crime," which the official said the Biden administration "inherited from the Trump administration." The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted to pass an assault weapons ban in July.The legislation is now pending in the Senate.

President Biden's speech on October 6, 2022 at the IBM factory in Poughkeepsie, New York. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital) According to the bill's summary, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022 would make it illegal to "knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon (SAW) or large capacity ammunition feeding device (LCAFD)." The ban on semi-automatic weapons comes after mass shootings in both Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. "Devastatingly for the country, congressional Republicans have chosen the gun lobby over the fight against gun crime by opposing the assault weapons ban that the president and Democrats in Congress all support," White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital.