The House has passed two bills that Republicans say would combat crime in Washington, DC, but that also limit the city’s self-governance as the GOP seeks to bolster President Donald Trump’s federal crackdown.
The bills passed on Tuesday are among more than a dozen being considered by Republicans in the wake of Trump’s National Guard deployment in Washington. The legislation now heads to the Senate for consideration.
Declaring crime in DC an emergency, Trump last month placed the city’s police department under federal control and deployed the National Guard. While the president allowed his 30-day takeover to expire last week, he has called for Republicans to advance “a Comprehensive Crime Bill.”
One of the House-approved measures – dubbed the DC Crimes Act and introduced by Florida GOP Rep. Byron Donalds – would limit the city’s ability to enact changes to its criminal sentencing laws.
It would also lower DC’s age for youth offenders and requires the DC attorney general to publish juvenile crime statistics on a public website.
The bill passed by a vote of 240 to 179 with 31 Democrats crossing party lines to vote in support and only one Republican voting against it.
A separate bill was passed by the House that would lower the age that juveniles can be tried as adults for certain violent offenses to 14 years of age. It passed by a vote of 225 to 203 with eight Democrats crossing party lines to vote in favor and one Republican voting against it.
Backers of the legislative push argue it would combat crime and empower local law enforcement, while its critics – in many cases, city residents and congressional Democrats – have argued the provisions represent unwarranted federal overreach.
On Wednesday, House Republicans voted to pass two more DC-related bills.
One bill would eliminate the city’s judicial nomination commission and allow the president of the United States to make judicial nominations to DC court. It passed 218 to 211 on a party-line vote.
Another bill would allow DC police to pursue a suspect fleeing in a vehicle unless the officer or their supervisor believes the chase would be of “unacceptable risk of harm” to others, “futile,” or if the suspect could be apprehended another way. It passed 245 to 182 with 29 Democrats joining Republicans in voting in support.
This story has been updated with information on additional DC crime bill votes.
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