Democrats were fantasising of granting D.C. statehood just two years ago. They are now waging a historic GOP challenge to the city’s self-government.
The ensuing conflict may lead Joe Biden to issue his first veto as president.
It all started last week, when the House GOP launched an attack on a package of progressive criminal justice reforms authorised by the D.C. council in November. Thirty-one Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the new D.C. legislation. Senate Republicans are now prepared to force a vote on putting the D.C. criminal justice rollback to Biden’s desk next month. In a surprising turn of events, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a critic of her city council’s work, vetoed the law last month and is not opposing efforts to overturn it.
With all 49 Republicans already in favour and several Democrats still unsure, Biden’s party is concerned that the resolution of disapproval may pass. This conclusion would highlight the party’s schism over crime and D.C. self-governance.
“I have reservations about passing here. Of course, the president might veto. “He’ll have to make that decision,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “Congress shouldn’t be bigfooting decisions made by the elected representatives of the people of the District. I’ll be discussing this broad principle with [Democrats].”
Biden has stated his opposition to the proposal but has not threatened to veto it. Democratic leaders believe he is capable of doing so: “I’d guess, but I wouldn’t go any further,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
The repeal of D.C.’s crime law cannot be filibustered, and if 51 senators vote yes, it will be the first time Congress has repealed a statute in the capital city since 1991. It’s a dramatic shift from the last Congress, when 46 Democratic senators went on record in support of declaring D.C. a state, while the Democratic House passed its own statehood bill.
And the shift is due in part to the city’s stubborn crime problem: Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), who was assaulted in her apartment building last week, was among the Democrats who supported rolling back the D.C. Council’s plan to change some criminal penalties and eliminate some mandatory minimum sentences.
It would only take two Senate votes to send the bill to Biden’s desk, and Republicans believe they are on the verge of securing them. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVa.) expressed interest in the concept in an interview, though he has not made a definite decision.
“They want harsher codes in West Virginia,” he explained. “I would be open to seeing what they want to roll back, and make sure it’s common sense. Yes, if it’s sensible and common sense.”
Democrats had a better chance of defeating a second House-passed resolution aimed at halting a new city voting rights law that allows noncitizens to vote in local elections. According to two persons familiar with the floor schedule, that resolution is not qualified for expedited floor proceedings, and Democrats can bottle it up in committee and object to bringing it up on the floor.
The crime idea will not be debated for some weeks. When it happens, it might be one of the first uncomfortable votes for Senate Democrats this Congress, who control the Senate but cannot stop the disapproval resolution.
Senators. Jon Tester (D-Mont. ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Angus King (I-Maine), and Mark Kelly (D-Maine) all stated they were not ready to comment on the crime measure (D-Ariz.). Last Congress, Manchin, Kelly, King, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) did not co-sponsor a bill to grant D.C. statehood.
Some Democrats argued that, philosophically, Congress should not be eroding the city’s autonomy. Residents of Washington pay taxes yet lack congressional representation and are subject to legislative branch supervision on a variety of issues. The last time Congress repealed a D.C. legislation, it was to prevent a building from exceeding height restrictions.
Since that 1991 incident, Congress has attached riders to larger pieces of legislation to prevent the city’s marijuana laws from being implemented and to limit abortion funding, but this is the first time in a generation that the House and Senate may actively reverse policy passed by the city council. “I’m generally not in favour of overturning things that a local government has done,” said an unsure Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.).
“I don’t think Congress should be in the role of making them play Mother-May-I on everything,” said former mayor and governor Tim Kaine (D-Va.). “My default position on these is that I strongly support home rule. We’ll take a peek as it gets closer.”
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) introduced a resolution of disapproval this week, marking the first step for Senate Republicans. In a message to AWN, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) stated he will support the bill, clinching the 49th and final GOP vote and shifting the attention to Democrats.
“Although I have always been supportive of abolishing obligatory minimums for nonviolent offences, I do not think mandatory minimums should be eliminated for violent crimes. “I will support efforts to overturn the D.C. statute since it cuts punishments for violent crime,” Paul stated.
Even if the resolution receives 51 votes, that is not the end of the story. Biden still wields the veto pen.
“My goal is that the president would veto it and stand with the people of the District of Columbia, stand on principle, and understand that this is not a soft-on-crime piece of legislation,” said D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb in an interview.
If Biden vetoes the bill, Lawmakers will have to overturn it with two-thirds of both the House and Senate. That would imply at least 17 Senate Democrats and 290 House members in total. The legislation received support from 31 House Democrats, falling well short of the required number.
As a statement of administration policy, the White House stated that it opposes the resolution and that “Congress should respect the District of Columbia’s ability to run its own local affairs.” If he goes further and expressly vows to veto the disapproval resolution, it may have an impact on Democrats who are undecided.
“Every time the president says he’ll veto something, that changes the calculus,” Senator Richard Blumenthal remarked (D-Conn.). “That means that members may be less willing to oppose the president when they know his opposition is so explicit.”
If the bill passes Biden’s desk, it would send a message to the House GOP that it could continue to take back District legislation that the conference disagreed with. Even if Biden successfully vetoes the resolution, it is apparent that House Republicans are eager to go to war with the D.C. government over its authority to govern itself.
It’s a sobering reminder for statehood enthusiasts that the window to pursue more sovereignty has passed — and it’s not certain when it will come again.
“A few years ago, it appeared like we were on the verge of becoming the 51st state. “We still have to work hard every day to achieve that,” added Schwalb. “We’re now at the mercy of a small handful of politicians who are exploiting the District of Columbia as a prop.”
