Daywatch: Republicans in US House hold hearing on Chicago violence
Good morning, Chicago.
Republicans who hold a majority in the U.S. House and whose infighting is risking a federal government shutdown by week’s end sought to focus attention Tuesday on a frequent target, Chicago crime and Democratic criminal justice policies, in a field hearing of the House Judiciary Committee.
The hearing at the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 was chaired by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who co-founded the far-right Freedom Caucus that is playing a major role in the budget resolution delay. No Democrats attended and GOP panel members posed questions, such as one from Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, asking, “Is Chicago savable? Or, is the city in such a downward trajectory that our only hope is to make sure that these policies don’t spread to other places?”
“I don’t believe that the answer to these questions comes out of Washington. But I do think hearings like this are really important because, you know, we want to get a sense of what some of the early warning signs are in a community like Chicago, so that the challenges you face don’t metastasize,” said Gaetz. He appeared by video from Washington due to the government spending impasse — the only public mention of the potential shutdown.
Republicans and those who testified attacked the prosecutorial policies of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who is not seeking reelection, Illinois’ enactment of cashless bail earlier this month under what’s known as the SAFE-T Act, and Chicagoans for electing progressives to office or not voting at all.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Rick Pearson and A.D. Quig.
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