Republicans backing President Donald Trump’s emergency takeover of the nation’s capital pushed to make the crime clampdown permanent with new legislation that Democrats slammed as an overreach.
The House Oversight Committee marked up a slew of bills on Wednesday related to crime in Washington, on the same day Trump’s DC police takeover expires. The hearing was attended by many Washington residents who vocally expressed their agreement with Democrats, while pushing back on the GOP-led pieces of legislation.
“Welcome to the people of Washington, DC, who have flooded this hearing room on a day in which we are hearing a set of bills that have not so much as had a single public hearing,” Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) said in the hearing.
“I don’t think that it is any mistake that this markup to vote these bills out of committee is happening on that last day that Donald Trump has ordered our nation’s National Guard to occupy this city,” she added.
The markup hearing comes after Trump placed the Metropolitan Police Department “under direct federal control” and deployed National Guard troops in the capital to reduce crime. Alongside the federalization of the DC police force, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced the investigation following allegations and whistleblower disclosures, saying leadership in the Metropolitan Police Department “deliberately” manipulated crime data. The committee is requesting documents, information, and transcribed interviews with District Commander Michael Pulliam and the District Commanders of all seven patrol districts.
“President Trump, in response, has made sweeping moves to bring federal law enforcement resources into the District and exercise existing authorities under the Home Rule Act to direct local law enforcement to combat the crime crisis,” Comer said in his opening statement.
“Like President Trump, House Republicans are committed to restoring law and order in our Nation’s capital city.”
Local crime statistics have shown a decrease in violent crime since 2023, down 35% in 2024 from 2023. But the data have come under scrutiny for not providing information on all crimes. Trump said earlier this month that “phony” crime data in the nation’s capital would be investigated amid his federal takeover of the local police.
Republicans and Democrats engaged in many back-and-forths during the hearing on Wednesday that began in the morning and is expected to last into the evening. Republicans continuously defended Trump’s efforts to make the city safer, while Democrats pushed for DC statehood and claimed this was an overstep of Congress and the White House.
“I would say to the president and his people, why not have a conversation with the people who are being governed here?” Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) said at the hearing.
The committee is taking up 14 bills related to Washington. The bills included a motion to amend the 30-day congressional review period for DC laws to a 60-day review period, codify components of Trump’s executive order on “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful,” require mandatory pretrial detention for all defendants charged with violent crimes, and cash bail or bail bonds for all defendants charged with public safety and order crimes. Other bills change the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, add a penalty for camping outdoors on public property, assert congressional control, lower the age of eligibility for juveniles to be tried as adults from 16 to 14, allow vehicular pursuit of a suspect fleeing in a motor vehicle, and reform the way the District of Columbia’s Attorney General is selected.
The agenda includes legislation to amend the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act and reauthorize the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program at $60,000,000 through 2032.
HOUSE OVERSIGHT NEARS THE END OF ITS INVESTIGATION INTO BIDEN’S AUTOPEN USAGE
Republicans also want to repeal the Incarceration Reduction Act of 2016, which allows people convicted of certain serious crimes before their 18th birthday to petition the court for a sentence reduction after serving at least 15 years; the 2022 Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act, which established restrictions and requirements on DC Police; and the DC Judicial Nomination Commission.
The committee also took up a bipartisan bill by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) to amend the Home Rule Act to permit the electronic transmission of anything passed by the DC Council to Congress.
