DC to withdraw new crime law, but Senate still plans vote to reject it
WASHINGTON — The head of the Washington, D.C., Council said Monday that he is withdrawing a sweeping rewrite of the capital city’s criminal code from consideration, just before a U.S. Senate vote that seemed set to overturn the measure.
But the move will not prevent the Senate vote or spare President Joe Biden a politically charged decision on whether to endorse the congressional action.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson announced the withdrawal of the law, which would have overhauled how the nation’s capital prosecutes and punishes crime. It was a rare move that he said wasn’t prohibited under Washington’s Home Rule authority.
“If Republicans choose to go ahead with a hollow vote, that’s their choice,” he said. “If they vote, they will be voting on nothing.”
A Senate leadership aide said they expected the vote to proceed despite the announcement of the withdrawal. The aide said the vote would be on the House disapproval resolution, rather than the D.C. Council’s transmission to the Senate. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity.
Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, one of the leading critics of the new criminal code, indicated that the vote to overturn will proceed as planned this week.
“This desperate, made-up maneuver not only has no basis in the DC Home Rule Act, but underscores the completely unserious way the DC Council has legislated,” Hagerty said in a statement. “No matter how hard they try, the Council cannot avoid accountability for passing this disastrous, dangerous DC soft-on-crime bill that will make residents and visitors less safe.”
Congress reviews all newly passed D.C. laws under the Home Rule arrangement, and frequently alters or limits them through budget riders.
But the criminal code rewrite seems set to be the first law since 1991 to be completely overturned. The measure to reject the law passed the House and faces a Senate vote this week.
Despite Democratic control of the Senate, the criminal code seems likely to be rejected. One Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, already has said he will vote to overturn the law. Another, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, is in the hospital, seeking treatment for clinical depression.
Hopes for presidential intervention were quashed last week when Biden stated that he would not use his veto if the measure reaches his desk.