SENATORS VOTE TO BLOCK D.C. CRIME LAWS
President Biden has said he’ll sign the Republican measure
The Senate voted Wednesday to block new District of Columbia crime laws and overrule the city government as lawmakers in both parties have expressed concern about rising violent crime rates in cities nationwide.
President Joe Biden said last week that he will sign the Republican resolution, which passed the Senate 8114 after passing the House last month. It marked the first time in more than three decades that Congress has nullified the capital city’s laws through the disapproval process — and a shift in the long-held Democratic position that the federal government should let D.C. govern itself.
Biden, who is set to announce a re-election campaign in the coming months, has been under increasing pressure on the issue from Republicans who have made reducing crime a political priority. In D.C., homicides in the city had risen for four years straight before they dropped around 10 percent in 2022. The 2021 murder count of 227 was the highest since 2003.
“We are the greatest superpower nation in history,” Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning. “This is our capital city. But local politicians have let its streets become a danger and an embarrassment.”
In a statement released after Wednesday night’s vote, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said, “Any attempt to replace District residents’ will with that of federal politicians elected hundreds of miles away violates the basic freedoms and principles on which this country was founded.
“To overturn our local, democratically enacted laws — the product of 10+ years of collaboration between law enforcement, judges, and policy experts — without any independent analysis, review, or alternative proposal, is not only undemocratic, but also careless.”
The overhaul of D.C.’s criminal code was approved late last year by the City Council after years of failed attempts. It would redefine crimes, change criminal justice policies and rework how sentences should be handed down after convictions. It would also do away with mandatory minimum sentences for many crimes and reduce the maximum penalties for burglary, carjacking and robbery.
The changes were set to take effect in October 2025. But to become law, it had to survive a 60-day review period during which Congress and the president could override it.