After facing calls from activists to defund the D.C. police, Ward 6 D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen proposed $15 million in cuts to the department’s proposed budget Wednesday.

The proposal would also require D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham to undergo a council review next year in order to stay in the job—retroactively applying a four year term, according to a draft report from the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety detailing the proposed cuts.  

The committee noted ongoing protests against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd that have rattled the District over the past month in the report.

Allen’s proposed cuts include a little over $6 million in vacant jobs, a proposed $2 million expansion of the police cadet program, and roughly $900,000 in funds for travel, ballistic shields, and other expenses.

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed 2021 budget includes a 3.3% increase in funding for MPD, a number she has defended. She told NPR earlier this month that her budget doesn’t fund the department “a penny more than we need and certainly not a penny less.” Allen’s reduction comes from Bowser’s proposed budget and still constitutes an overall budget increase for MPD, though a slightly smaller one.

Allen’s proposal would also force Bowser to decide whether to re-nominate Newsham next year, giving the council the last word on whether he can stay. Bowser appointed him to the role in 2017, which the D.C. Council approved 12-1.

Allen’s office and MPD did not immediately respond to DCist’s request for comment.

The committee is set to vote on the proposal on Thursday, with a council vote on the full budget scheduled for July.

The news comes amid tense clashes between Newsham and the council, with the chief of police saying that lawmakers had “completely abandoned” officers when they passed emergency police-reform legislation earlier this month.

In an address to officers, Newsham said the council “forgot about our 20 years of reform, and they insulted us by insinuating that we were in an emergency need of reform. They insinuated that somehow the Metropolitan Police Department would be involved in an act of murder like we saw in Minneapolis.”

Allen, who is the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary on Public Safety, denounced Newsham’s comments, saying Newsham had missed a leadership opportunity and calling them “dangerous.”

Police reform and defunding MPD have been goals for many activists present at the protests, with many calling for more radical reforms than those Allen proposed.

After Bowser unveiled a massive mural on what is now Black Lives Matter Plaza, some demonstrators painted over the stars of the D.C. flag to make an equals sign, and added the words, “Defund the police.”

This story has been updated to clarify that Allen’s reduction comes from Bowser’s 2021 proposed budget and to reflect that Peter Newsham’s role as police chief would not have come up for council review in two years.