Senate Passes Republican-Led Effort to Block DC Crime Bill

(Bloomberg) -- The Democratic-led Senate overwhelmingly voted to overturn a District of Columbia law that pares back penalties for some violent crimes, the latest sign of the party’s defensive position on crime and a blow to Washington statehood and home rule advocates.

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The measure, approved 81-14 on Wednesday night, marks the first time in more than 30 years that Congress has turned back a local District law, a remarkable reversal for Democrats who have largely supported the ability of the Democratic-dominated city to govern itself.

The House passed its own version of the measure in February.

Senate Democrats supporting the bill included those up for reelection next year in the most heavily contested states, including Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana and Tim Kaine of Virginia.

The ranks of Democratic supporters grew after President Joe Biden in a surprise move last week said he would sign the Republican-led measure. This week, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he would vote for it.

The city’s law reduces punishment for a variety of violent offenses at a time when rates for homicides and car-jackings are soaring. In 2021 and 2022, homicides reached levels not seen since 2003, according to the Washington Post. The Metropolitan Police Department says there have been 101 carjacking offenses in the District so far this year, two-thirds of them involving guns.

Democrats who supported the measure said they had been motivated in part by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, who vetoed the legislation. The city council overrode her veto. Bowser, however, has come out against Congress’s intervention, calling it an affront to the notion of home rule.

Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said that while there were some controversial provisions of the new criminal code, many other cities call for even lighter sentences for armed robbery and carjackings, and in some categories, like sexual assault, the DC Council was raising penalties and even creating new ones like reckless endangerment with a firearm.

Van Hollen said federal lawmakers were substituting their judgment for that of city lawmakers. Washington is a federal district and does not have voting congressional representation, giving Congress more power there than in a state.

“This resolution is an attack on the democratic rights of the people of the District of Columbia, which has its own duly elected democratic representatives,” Van Hollen said.

Yet other Democrats — including at least one from a neighboring state — argued that it’s the wrong time to lower penalties on criminals. Lowering the penalty for carjacking would send a message “that doesn’t pass the smell test” to hundreds and thousands of northern Virginians who work come into the city, said Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat.

As it became apparent the legislation would land on Biden’s desk, Council Chair Phil Mendelson announced he would send a letter to the Senate withdrawing the criminal code from review and would re-assess its contents. However, Senate rules didn’t allow for Wednesday’s vote to be set aside.

Republicans want to make crime an issue in the 2024 elections, as they did in 2022 and 2020. Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pointed to reports of fierce assaults in the city and underscored Biden’s shift on the issue, which came after 173 House Democrats had voted against overturning the District’s sentencing law.

“The public pressure was so great that the president now says he wants to sign the same Republican bill that he previously announced he opposed,” McConnell said. “The headlines tell the story. Biden’s about-face on the DC crime bill shows Democrats are on the defensive.”

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