President Biden Says He’ll Sign Up to Repeal New D.C. Laws

WASHINGTON. President Joe Biden said Thursday he will sign a Republican-sponsored resolution blocking new DC laws that would change how criminals are prosecuted and punished in the nation’s capital.

The city has spent nearly two decades trying to remake Washington’s criminal laws, including redefining crimes, changing criminal justice policy, and redesigning post-conviction sentencing procedures. The overhaul passed the Council of the District of Columbia late last year.

But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has decided to take over city affairs, arguing that the changes to the county will contribute to Washington’s already rising crime rate — the homicide rate in 2021 was the highest in nearly 20 years — and make it easier for some criminals to get out of prison or avoid punishment for all.

The resolution was passed by the House of Representatives with some support from the Democrats and appears poised to also be approved by the Senate on a bipartisan basis, possibly as early as next week.

Biden tweeted that he supports D.C. statehood: “But I don’t support some of the changes made by the D.C. Council over the mayor’s objections, such as reducing car theft fines,” he said. “If the Senate votes to repeal the Council of the District of Columbia did – I will sign.”

In doing so, the president will allow Congress to repeal city laws for the first time in more than three decades. Democrats will renege on their commitment to oppose the district’s unusual rules that allow Congress to intervene, and agreement comes despite their long-standing push to grant statehood to the nation’s capital.

The GOP effort is part of a growing political backlash against Democratic-led changes in criminal justice that has accelerated since the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her re-election bid this week as some of her Democratic rivals argued the nation’s third-largest city needs a tougher anti-crime policy.

Earlier Thursday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell cited crime in his home state of Kentucky in an attempt to blame Biden and Democrats for the rise in crime, including an incident two days ago in which masked thieves broke into a car dealership and left with half a dozen cars.

“Getting killers off our streets and getting foreign poison out of our neighborhoods is one of the most basic leadership responsibilities you can think of,” McConnell added, referring to the country’s fentanyl crisis. “Obviously the Biden administration is not willing or simply unable to do so.”

The Washington Penal Code has not been significantly updated since it was first drafted in 1901. Criminal justice experts say it is outdated, confusing, and inconsistent with how crimes are punished today. In the nation’s capital, as in most places in the United States, criminal laws disproportionately affect blacks.

Amendments passed by the DC Council late last year would remove mandatory minimum sentences for many crimes and expand jury trials for lower charges. The changes will also reduce the maximum penalty for burglary, car theft, and robbery.

But the county is not a state, and because of that, it doesn’t have the same rights as the 50 states to make and amend laws. In addition, county residents do not have voting members in Congress. While Congress granted some “self-government” powers to the city’s residents, it retained veto power over district government actions.

House Republicans voted 250-173 to repeal the penal code rewrite.

They also repealed a new DC law that would have given non-citizens the right to vote. Biden was expected to miss that as well, although it was not mentioned during Thursday’s discussion, two officials said. It was unclear whether Biden would sign the 260-to-173 vote resolution or let it go into effect without his veto or signature.

The criminal legislation, which will come into force in 2025, has caused some friction in the county government. Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed it in January, writing in a letter that she had “very serious concerns” about some of the bill’s proposals. She later proposed changes after the council overrode her veto.

There were 203 homicides in the county in 2022, down about 10% after several years of steady growth. The city’s homicide rate has risen for four consecutive years, with 227 homicides in 2021 the highest since 2003. The city’s police union said in a statement that the changes “will lead to an even greater increase in violent crime than they already are.”

But Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives, said the criminal law review was “extremely important” and the result of years of work by lawmakers, criminal justice experts and non-profit organizations dedicated to offenders.

“I really can’t understand why they are causing such controversy, because the code, the new code, increases the penalties for some crimes, but reduces the penalties for others. It’s based on experience,” Norton said.

“And it needs to be repealed by the DC that’s been through this experience, and so we’re going to make sure the President understands as a core basis why this bill is so important to us.”

But the problem is wider than just crime: DC officials say it’s a local matter and the federal government should stay away.

“It is an insult to limited self-government that 700,000 DC residents and taxpaying Americans, and their duly elected officials, must endure scrutiny and oversight of our laws by officials not elected to represent our interests or values,” Bowser wrote in a letter to Congress on Feb. 23.

Although it has been more than three decades since Congress completely repealed the DC law, Congress has often used alternative methods to change laws on issues ranging from abortion funding to marijuana legalization.

MP Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released the following statement after learning that President Biden told Senate Democrats that he would not veto the disapproval resolution:

“Today was a sad day for DC self-government and the right of DC residents to self-govern, as President Biden himself emphasized in his administration’s administrative policy statement released just a few weeks ago,” Norton said. “We had hoped that with more support from the Senate, we could ensure that no resolution of disapproval pending in the Senate would hit the President’s table, but with a nationwide increase in crime, most senators don’t want to be seen as supporting felonies. justice reform.

D.C. Councilman Charles Allen released the following statement:

“Today is an unprecedented violation of America’s basic principle of self-government and a final painful reminder that until the nearly 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia enjoy full statehood and autonomy, we will be treated and treated as a colony, even by those who aim to support us. . DC is quite capable of governing itself. We are not subjects, and we unequivocally reject anything less than complete control over our own affairs. We reject the oppression and paternalism of federal intervention. We reject total disregard for our legislative process and our values. The revised Penal Code Act is much needed legislation, passed unanimously twice by our duly elected legislature. It is a comprehensive package of widely discussed and carefully crafted legal reforms developed over nearly two decades. But it’s not about the bill or what it actually does; it’s about producing “tough on crime” rhetoric at our expense, leaving us stuck in an outdated criminal code that makes the county less safe and less fair. Protecting those without power and past pledges to support DC statehood couldn’t sound more hollow.”