The House on Tuesday advanced a pair of bills that would override local D.C. criminal justice law and make it easier to impose strict penalties on young offenders.
A number of Democrats crossed the aisle to vote in favor of the legislation, which many in their party said was patronizing to D.C. and would infringe on the District’s right to self-govern.
Meanwhile, Republicans painted the bills as part of a larger, commonsense push to crack down on crime in D.C. — an issue that has attracted special attention from President Donald Trump.
“We all know somebody who’s been carjacked or had a wallet stolen at gunpoint or was mugged,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday at a House Republican leadership news conference. “It’s happened to members of Congress in our nation’s capital, and we have to stop it.”
The first bill was introduced by Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and would amend a local law that allows offenders to be charged as minors through the age of 24, lowering the maximum age to 18. It would also direct the D.C. attorney general to create a public online database of juvenile crime statistics. It passed 240-179, with 31 Democratic supporters.
The second, introduced by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, would lower the age in D.C. at which a minor can be tried as an adult to 14 in certain cases. It passed 225-203, with 8 Democrats voting in favor.
Both pieces of legislation now move to the Senate, where at least seven Democrats would have to vote with their GOP colleagues to overcome a filibuster.
The House is expected to vote later this week on two other pieces of D.C.-related legislation — one to eliminate the local commission that nominates D.C. judges and another to allow officers to engage in car chases when suspects flee from police.
House Oversight ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., called the four bills “a serious violation of the rights of Washington, D.C., and the democratic process.”
“Let’s not sit here in Congress and pretend to be a super-city council, imposing our pet policies on residents who reject this agenda,” Garcia said from the House floor.
Republican interest in D.C. crime comes at a time when violent incidents have fallen since 2023, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Despite the drop, Trump in August invoked a section of the 1973 law known as the Home Rule Act and federalized the MPD for 30 days. He also deployed National Guard troops — who continue to roam around D.C. landmarks — and other federal agents in a dual-pronged crackdown on crime and immigration.
Congress has broad constitutional jurisdiction over the nation’s capital, and under the Home Rule Act it can review and overrule local laws passed by the D.C. Council. But many Democrats have urged their colleagues to stop meddling in local issues.
“We’re not elected by the people of D.C. We ought to defer to and respect the judgment of the local elected officials,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the top ranking Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said on Monday. “And also understand that if you really want to deal with some of the problems that some of the Republicans claim they care about, then maybe we ought to invest in the city, create more opportunities for young people.”
Last week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee marked up a slate of Republican-backed bills taking aim at local laws in a variety of ways, including the ones on the floor this week. And the same committee has called Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb to testify at a hearing scheduled for Thursday.
“It is clear to members of the committee and the public that D.C.’s soft-on-crime policies have failed to keep D.C. residents and visitors safe,” House Oversight Chair James R. Comer, R-Ky., said on the floor Tuesday. “Our capital cannot continue to let criminals freely roam the streets and expect this crime crisis to end.”
Either because they believe D.C. should tighten its criminal justice laws or because they’re concerned about the electoral impacts of seeming soft on crime, Democrats have at times recently joined their Republican colleagues on bills targeting local laws.
In 2023, some Democrats joined Republicans to pass a disapproval resolution blocking a controversial revamping of D.C.’s criminal code, which President Joe Biden then signed.
Earlier this Congress, the House passed three bills that would roll back local policies related to policing, “sanctuary city” actions and noncitizen voting, though none of those bills has gotten a vote in the Senate. And efforts to repeal the Home Rule Act entirely are percolating, though seemingly with little support. Last Congress, a version of Donalds’ proposal to lower the maximum youth sentencing age also passed the House, with 18 Democrats joining Republicans in support.
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