President Joe Biden is expected to address rising violent crime rates Wednesday, when he announces an anti-crime plan.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said part of the plan will focus on gun violence and gun safety in the country.
The announcement comes as the U.S. murder rate increased from 2019 to 2020. A sample of 37 cities also showed a rising murder rate between January-March of 2020 and January-March of 2021.
Despite the fact that the rate is still lower than previous decades, the Biden administration called the recent rise “a concern for many Americans, Republicans and Democrats.”
It is not known how much of Biden’s plan will address policing in the country. It may reveal where he stands in the divide within the Democratic Party on the subject.
Those on the progressive end of the party have endorsed the dismantling of traditional policing, most notably subscribing to the slogan “Defund the Police,” made popular after the 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of police.
Meanwhile, centrists within the party cite the slogan, and Republican attacks that followed, as part of the reason Democrats lost house seats during the 2020 elections.