Justice & Law Quote by David E. Price

Legislating is easy; paying is where ideology shows its teeth. David E. Price frames a familiar Washington ritual: Congress “authorizes improvements and grants” with ceremony and press releases, then balks when appropriations arrive. The line is built on a neat bait-and-switch accusation: lawmakers want the political credit of delivering benefits without the fiscal responsibility of funding them. “We’d rather” turns budget arithmetic into moral preference, implying this isn’t a constraint but a choice.

The subtext is aimed at the GOP’s reflexive preference for tax cuts, especially in eras when “fiscal discipline” is invoked to shrink domestic spending while revenue is deliberately reduced. Price’s contrast is strategic: “tax breaks for the wealthy” is a populist villain, while “police officers…protecting our communities” is a politically armored beneficiary. It’s a trapdoor argument - if you oppose the spending, you’re not merely conservative; you’re deprioritizing public safety in favor of the rich. That pairing also tries to scramble partisan stereotypes by claiming the pro-cop mantle for Democrats in budget fights, particularly around COPS grants and local law-enforcement funding that can be squeezed when deficits are used as a cudgel.

Contextually, Price is speaking from the long, weary experience of appropriations politics: the gap between authorization bills (aspirational, bipartisan-friendly) and actual funding (zero-sum, hostage to tax policy). The line works because it translates an abstract process - revenue, offsets, discretionary caps - into a blunt values test about who government is for, and who it reliably serves first.