Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is blaming cancel culture for cuts to Austin's police department.
Paxton says the Austin City Council carried out an unwarranted attack on APD's budget with the 150-million-dollar cut. He also says Austin is dealing with widespread crime, violence, and homelessness, and thinks the virtue signaling will hurt the city.
The City Council enacted the budget cuts on Thursday, moving most of the cash to other city departments.
Austin is the 13th major US city to reduce police budgets. New York slashed a billion and LA $150 million. San Francisco cut $120 million. San Diego, Milwaukee, Denver, Durham, Winston-Salem, Chicago, and D.C. have also made cuts.