Indiana Representative Jim Banks has proposed a House bill that would render anyone convicted of vandalism and violent looting during a protest ineligible to receive federal unemployment money.
The Republican congressman’s Support Peaceful Protest Act would also require convicted individuals to pay for the cost of federal policing for whatever sum is dictated by the court.
Banks said in an August 28 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? 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.”
Banks proposed the bill the same day an activist harassed an elderly couple as they were leaving the South Lawn of the White House on the final night of the Republican National Convention.
The Congressman called out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a tweet, “Hey [Pelosi], these are my constituents. They are good people. If you told these mobs to stop, I have a feeling they would …”