Democrats have pledged to give Senate Republicans enough votes to approve a resolution overturning D.C.’s soft-on-crime law pending President Joe Biden’s pledged signature.
The Republican resolution has the support of at least five Democrat senators, Joe Manchin (D-WV), Patty Murray (D-WA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), which gives Republicans enough votes to pass the resolution with a simple majority. The resolution could be sent to Biden within weeks after Republicans force its vote on the Senate floor.
“I’ll be voting the same way the president is,” Murray responded when questioned by CNN if she would support the measure. “I absolutely respect that decision.”
The Democrats’ support of the Republican resolution comes as Democrats have been accurately cast as the defund police party. Political experts believe the Democrats’ soft-on-crime approach in 2020 and 2022 was counterproductive to winning elections.
After meeting Thursday with Democrats on Capitol Hill, Biden’s Twitter account indicated he would sign the resolution to block a D.C. law that reduces punishments for criminals. Biden maintains the authority to veto the resolution, leaving the law intact.
President Joe Biden speaks at the Arnaud C. Marts Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. Biden is kicking off a travel stretch intended to save the Democratic Party’s majorities in Congress with a speech on his crime-prevention initiative, the Safer America Plan. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections – such as lowering penalties for carjackings,” Biden’s Twitter account said. “If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did – I’ll sign it.”
The district’s criminal law, which reduces punishments for a variety of serious criminal offenses, was enacted by D.C.’s city council, which overrode the mayor’s veto — all while crime increased at the beginning of 2023.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, 94 carjackings have occurred in the District so far in 2023. Homicides have dramatically increased (25 percent), along with theft from auto (21 percent), theft (16 percent), and arson (300 percent).
Not all Democrats support Biden’s decision. Some Democrats are outraged that Biden would block the politically controversial soft-on-crime law.
People walk down 16th street after “Defund The Police” was painted on the street near the White House on June 08, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
“So a lot of us who are allies voted no in order to support what the White House wanted. And now we are being hung out to dry,” one Democrat lawmaker told the Hill Thursday. “F****** AMATEUR HOUR. HEADS SHOULD ROLL OVER AT THE WHITE HOUSE OVER THIS.”
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) also verbalized her frustration with the president by suggesting the soaring crime rate is the reason he promised to veto the bill.
“Today has been a sad day for D.C. home rule and D.C. residents’ right to self-governance,” she said. “[B]ut with the nationwide increase in crime, most senators do not want to be seen as supporting criminal justice reform.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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