Chuck Schumer Joins Republicans in Backing a Change to a Controversial DC Crime Bill

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer announced that he would join Republicans in supporting a resolution to repeal a controversial D.C. criminal law.

The resolution was intended to put Democrats in the spotlight. Still, last week President Joseph Biden came out in support of it, angering some members of his party and possibly leading to the withdrawal of the crime bill by the chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia.

“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.

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The House has already passed the resolution, and the Senate will consider it on Wednesday. The Home Rule Act provides that the nation’s capital may function as a separate municipality, but Congress must approve the city’s legislation. A local ordinance can be nullified by a resolution passed in Congress.

The Council of the District of Columbia enacted a bill last year to reform the city’s criminal statutes and roll down several harsh mandatory minimum and other penalties. In January, Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the law, but the council ultimately decided to pass it nonetheless. Nearly 32 years have passed without Congress repealing a local ordinance.

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Since then, Bowser has expressed concern that congressional “meddling” in local affairs is a “slippery slope” that could compromise the city’s “limited home.” Biden, like Bowser, favors creating individual states out of districts.

Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are just some of the Democrats who have indicated their support for the resolution.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson indicated his intention to withdraw the bill in light of the resolution and argued that the key to overriding it is merely “symbolic.”