Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Tuesday he will join Republicans in backing a resolution to overturn a controversial Washington, D.C., crime law.
Republicans sought to put Democrats in the hot seat with the resolution, but last week President Joe Biden came out in support, rankling some within his party and seemingly prompting the Council of the District of Columbia’s chairman to withdraw the crime bill.
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“I’m going to vote yes. It was a close question. But on balance, I’m voting yes,” Schumer told reporters without elaborating on internal party uproar on the matter.
CNN’s @mkraju: “On the D.C. crime bill … how are you going to vote? And, secondly, how did Democratic leaders and the White House so badly bungle this issue?”
Senate Maj. Leader Chuck Schumer says he is going to “vote yes,” then says “Next!” and ignores the bungling question. pic.twitter.com/1YxDdrH0mI
— The Recount (@therecount) March 7, 2023
The House has already advanced the resolution, and the upper chamber is expected to take up the resolution Wednesday.
Although the capital is allowed to function as an independent city, its laws remain subject to congressional approval under the Home Rule Act. If Congress passes a resolution disapproving a city law, it can overturn it.
Last year, the Council of the District of Columbia passed a bill to overhaul its crime laws and claw back a bevy of mandatory minimums and other penalties for various crimes. Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the bill in January but was overridden by the council. Congress hasn’t nixed a city law in nearly 32 years.
Bowser has since warned that congressional “meddling” in the city’s affairs is a “slippery slope” that could trample on “limited home.” Both Biden and Bowser support district statehood.
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A handful of Democrats, including Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), have signaled support for the resolution.
Against the specter of the resolution going through, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson announced plans to withdraw the bill and argued that the resolution to overrule it will only be “symbolic.”
