- The Washington Times - Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Not surprisingly, Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, didn’t mince words when asked about defund-the-police legislation proposed by Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, describing the two left-wing Democrats as “Marxists.”

“I think it’s great that we live in a country where the two congresswomen have the right to say what they want, but we also have the right to disagree with them,” Mr. Kennedy said Wednesday on Fox’s “The Story.” “I believe in free enterprise. They’re Marxists.”

He had the same view about another member of “the Squad,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat, who called Tuesday for “dismantling the whole system of oppression wherever we find it.”

“She’s a Marxist,” said Mr. Kennedy. “That’s her right to be, but she’s clearly a Marxist. The Cuban national anthem should be playing in the background.”

The BREATHE Act, a bill unveiled Tuesday by the congresswomen but not yet introduced, would defund agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and offer reparations for victims of “mass criminalization.”

Mr. Kennedy was pessimistic about the bill’s chances. “I don’t think their bill will go very far, but as I said, it’s a serious effort to compete in the woke Olympics,” he said.

Ms. Pressley of Massachusetts and Ms. Tlaib of Michigan announced the BREATHE Act on a Zoom call, as reported by the New York Post.

The bill is supported by the Movement for Black Lives’s Electoral Justice Project, which said the “visionary bill divests our taxpayer dollars from brutal and discriminatory policing and invests in a new vision of public safety,” according to the website.

The fourth member of “the Squad,” the group of high-profile, progressive first-term congresswomen, is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.

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