The White House's weak spin that the GOP would defund police Republicans often claim falsely that President Biden would defund the police, and now, White House aides are countering that it's actually the GOP working to cut police funding. In this tit-for-tat, neither side is telling it straight. The reality is that Biden has proposed increased funding in his 2022 budget to help departments hire officers while Republicans have rejected calls to "defund the police." A group of liberal Democrats is driving a movement in Congress and the states, proposing that a portion of funds currently spent on police officers and tactics be redirected to social services and the safety net. The meaning of "defund the police," however, often gets twisted to score political points. Last week, we delved into GOP claims that Biden would cut police funding. This week, we dug into claims from White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Cedric Richmond, a former Democratic congressman who leads the White House Office of Public Engagement. They said Republican lawmakers opposed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which included $350 billion in aid that many local governments are using to patch budget holes, hire officers and avoid police layoffs. "That was voted into law by Democrats just a couple of months ago," Psaki said at a briefing June 23. "Some might say that the other party was for defunding the police; I'll let others say that, but that's a piece." Although Republicans all opposed Biden's coronavirus relief package, no one voted to cut, or defund, anything. Republicans simply voted against a one-time cash infusion for states, which was given by Congress with no requirement that the funds be spent on police. The White House got Three Pinocchios. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. Pot revenue not the buzzkill Youngkin claims Glenn Youngkin, Virginia's Republican gubernatorial candidate, says he's never known a habitual marijuana user to amount to anything — and the same goes for the revenue projections from states that have legalized the drug. "Every single state that has adopted legalizing marijuana has been disappointed by the economic model," Youngkin said at a campaign stop in March. "It just has fundamentally underperformed in every state," he said in a May interview. Virginia has legalized marijuana for recreational purposes, projecting $13.8 million to $23 million in tax revenue in 2024, which would grow gradually to more than $135 million in 2027. Youngkin, a former equity investor, said through his campaign that he believes other states' revenue forecasts have proven to be "way overstated." In reality, many states have exceeded their revenue projections for legal marijuana sales, even ones that faced initial disappointment such as California. Although it's tricky to forecast tax revenue from a new industry, Oregon has exceeded revenue projections, Colorado has surpassed them, and Washington state doubled its forecast in its first year of sales. Youngkin earned Three Pinocchios. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @AdriUsero) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. | 
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