Members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to block two Washington, D.C. laws. One that gave illegal immigrants the right to vote and another that rewrote the District’s criminal code with new, “soft on crime” penalties.
Although most of their caucus opposed the back-to-back votes, a significant number of Democrats sided with Republicans in support of overturning the changes to the criminal code and election laws.
Nevertheless, the resolutions must pass the Democratic-controlled Senate and then be signed into law by the president.
Per NBC News:
The moves may be partially symbolic since both would have to pass the Democratic-held Senate and be signed by President Joe Biden. However, both House votes garnered a notable amount of Democratic support with 31 Democrats voting to overturn the criminal code rewrite and 42 voting to overturn the voting measure. Biden has said publicly that he opposes both measures, but has not explicitly stated he would veto them.
Thursday’s votes signal a new and openly combative phase in the District’s tortured relationship with the federal government.
The debate has put D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in a curious political position. Bowser vetoed the rewrite of the city’s criminal code in January, saying the maximum penalty reductions send “the wrong message” on crime prevention, Bowser also opposed a measure that would allow for jury trials in most misdemeanor cases, saying the sudden spike in jury trials would overwhelm the local justice system. Her veto was quickly overridden by the D.C. Council in a 12-1 vote.
Republican lawmakers decried the D.C. government as soft on criminals in the midst of a multi-year local spike in violent crime. Several Republican lawmakers have cited Bowser’s opposition to bolster their own arguments.
However, Bowser said last week that she didn’t want Congress to get involved.
Congressional oversight of the District is written into the Constitution.
It has been more than three decades since Congress nullified a D.C. law.
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