U.S. House in June rejected attempt to pare military equipment to local police forces
WASHINGTON • The House of Representatives in June rejected a proposal to rein in a program to send excess military equipment to local police departments. The program has been criticized in connection with police response to demonstrations in Ferguson.
Five of six members of the House from the St. Louis area voted against an amendment to a Pentagon budget bill offered by Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., which failed by a vote of 355-62. Here is an analysis by the independent campaign donations oversight group MapLight of the vote, and of defense-industry donations to members of the House.
Among the members voting against it were Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, who has been among the most vocal critics of what he calls a "militarized" police response in the aftermath of the Aug. 9 police shooting death of Michael Brown, 18.
"The scenes that we saw in Ferguson, Missouri, this past week, with a militarized police force facing down innocent protesters with sniper rifles and machine guns is totally unacceptable in America," Clay told CNN on Sunday.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/u-s-house-in-june-rejected-attempt-to-pare-military/article_6e0a6abc-9aff-5cb0-81bd-9ec024417f0c.html
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Didn't miss a thing. 
