New Bill Proposed By GOP Lawmaker Will STRIP Convicted Rioters Of Unemployment Benefits

Here's the report from Brietbart News: 

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) is introducing legislation this week, Breitbart News has learned, to strip convicted rioters of federal unemployment benefits and have them pay the cost of federal policing of riots.

Banks’ legislation, known as the Support Peaceful Protest Act, would ensure that rioters convicted of violence, vandalism, or looting must pay restitution to cover the cost of federal law enforcement policing of the riot at which they were arrested.

In addition, Banks’ plan would mandate that convicted rioters become ineligible for federal unemployment benefits during the Chinese coronavirus crisis. Some are currently receiving hundreds of dollars in extra unemployment benefits.

Here's more from Rep. Bank's press release: 

“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?” said Rep. Banks. “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.”

Fox News also shared some insight: 

Banks said many rioters have time to participate in violence because they are unemployed people receiving government benefits -- including increased federal benefits for those who have lost their jobs amid the pandemic.

“What we’re seeing happen in big cities and around the country are angry violent mobs showing up at federal properties, tearing down monuments on federal properties, especially in Washington, D.C. and it’s got to stop,” he said. “What my bill would do is add new consequences to those individuals who are breaking the law.”

Banks said he supports peaceful protest.                                                                                                                                                                                   "There are a lot of Americans who are showing up at peaceful protests,” he said, adding that his bill is a “common sense” step to add some “accountability for some of these angry mob protests that are occurring around our country.”

“The people who are acting out in violence are very different from those who are showing up peacefully and it’s easy to see the difference,” he told WIBC.