Senate overwhelmingly approves rebuke of D.C. crime bill

The Senate overwhelmingly passed a GOP-led resolution Wednesday night to repeal a Washington, D.C. crime bill that critics labeled soft on crime amid rising crime rates in the nation’s capital. 

Most of the Senate Democratic caucus joined Republicans, as the final tally was 81 to 14. 

The vote came after the chairman of D.C.’s City Council tried to pull back the legislation Monday so it wouldn’t get a rebuke in the U.S. Senate. 

A number of Senate Democrats pointed to this to excuse their votes. 

‘Both the city council chairman – who has withdrawn the legislation – and the mayor have suggested that these changes to the D.C. criminal code are not ready for prime time,’ said a point statement by Virginia’s Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. 

‘We will vote for the resolution of disapproval and urge the mayor and council to work together to create a safer city for all, including the many Virginians who commute to D.C. for work every day,’ they added. 

D.C., Council Chairman Phil Mendelson announced Monday that he has withdrawn a controversial criminal code bill, in a move meant to forestal a Senate vote on it

The Democrats who voted in the affirmative were following in President Joe Biden’s lead. 

Biden had signaled that he would support the Republican bill to block the measure – – even as his administration took heat for violating its own admonitions about protecting home rule in the city. 

The process had already started by the time Council Chairman Phil Mendelson wrote to Vice President Kamala Harris to try and pull the bill.  

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‘Not only does the statute not allow for a withdrawal of a transmission, but at this point the Senate Republican privileged motion will be acting on the House disapproval resolution, rather than the DC Council’s transmission to the Senate,’ a Senate leadership aide, who told DailyMail.com: ‘We still expect the vote to occur.’

The vote wrapped up around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, concluding an episode that exposed a rift in the Democratic Party over Washington, D.C.’s autonomy.

Without statehood, D.C.’s Home Rule Act allows Congress to review the city’s laws. 

Mendelson said the Council, which backed the combined changes to the criminal code over the objections of Mayor Muriel Bowser, would modify to the law and submit it to Congress later. 

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that ‘if the bill comes to the president’s desk, he will sign it.’

She also reaffirmed his support for statehood, even while bashing the city’s posture on sentences for violent crimes and being willing to over-rule the local government. 

‘He believes and he has for some time that DC should be a fifty-one state,’ she said. The move ‘doesn’t change that he encourages Congress to pass a bill that makes D.C. a state, and he will sign it.’

On Friday, Jean-Pierre was put on the defensive amid House Democratic fuming about why the administration said it was against the measure on self-governance grounds for the city, only to have Biden say he would sign it if it reaches his desk.   

‘This is about next year’s campaign,’ said Mendelson. ‘That’s what this is about, it’s about doing videos that so and so senator voted to be soft on crime in the District of Columbia.’

‘One thing the president believes in is making sure that the streets in America and communities across the country are safe,’ said Jean-Pierre. ‘That includes D.C.’

Her comment came after some House Democrats were left furious after Biden announced he would sign the resolution after many of them had cast votes opposing it.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN on Sunday he planned to speak with Biden privately about it.