House bill to fund police body cameras

House Republicans proposed new funding for police body cameras on Wednesday, in the wake of widespread protests that have followed a number of violent incidents involving law enforcement.

The Appropriations Committee’s 2016 spending bill for the Commerce and Justice departments proposes a $50 million “community trust initiative,” with $15 million of that going to body camera programs and research. The program would also finance $30 million in other justice system reform initiatives and $5 million to improve data collection.

{mosads}Republicans are proposing the programs as part of a $51.4 billion spending measure for the two departments and NASA, a $1.3 billion increase over fiscal 2015’s level. The GOP measure would give those agencies $661 million less than President Obama requested.

This is the first time House Republicans have specifically proposed spending on body cameras, though other Justice Department grants from appropriators can fund camera programs. Still, the funding is far below the $263 million that the White House requested for body cameras late last year.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he backs federal grants for body cameras in recent weeks.

Top GOP appropriators said the measure is a response to the needs of law enforcement officials, but made no mention of the recent unrest in cities including Baltimore; New York; Ferguson, Mo.; and North Charleston, S.C.

In the most recent incident, six police officers were charged in connection with the death of a Baltimore man, Freddie Gray, who suffered a fatal injury while in police custody.

“This legislation increases funds for some of the most important aspects of our government: federal law enforcement agencies and counterintelligence efforts that protect families and communities across the nation and bring those who break our laws to justice,” said Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.).

“This is a tough budget year, but this bill ensures our law enforcement officers have the resources they need to protect our lives and property,” added Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), the chairman of the justice subcommittee.

The House spending bill also keeps policy provisions opposing abortion, preventing the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. and opposing gun control measures. It also seeks to ban exports to Cuban military officers as the Obama administration moves to normalize relations with the country. Another provision limits NASA’s interactions with China.

Under the measure, the Justice Department’s budget would grow by $852 million, to $27.5 billion, with increases going to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Programs to prevent violence against women would also receive a funding boost under the GOP plan.

NASA would get $18.5 billion under the Republican proposal, an increase of roughly a half-billion dollars over 2015’s total. That includes a hike in funding for space exploration and a slight decline in spending on science programs.

Funding for the Commerce Department, on the other hand, would drop by about a quarter billion dollars, down to $8.2 billion for 2016. That includes cuts to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation would both receive slight increases in funding for next year.

Updated at 11:48 a.m.