House to vote on DC bill expanding transparency of police
Rachel Schilke
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The House of Representatives will gather once again to exercise legislative power over the District of Columbia, this time over a discussion on whether to block a Washington, D.C., crime bill looking to expand transparency within the police department.
The House will vote Wednesday on whether to strike down the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Act, which looks to expand public access to police disciplinary records and body camera footage, as well as restrict some police tactics, according to the act. It will be the third time this year that the lower chamber has met to discuss Washington, D.C., policies as Republicans look to strike down on the district’s fluctuating crime rates and shine a spotlight on Democrats’ handling of crime at the national level.
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Both the House and the Senate voted in March to overhaul an ordinance passed by the D.C. Council that would have lessened penalties for some crimes, including homicide, and would ultimately overhaul Washington, D.C.’s century-old criminal code. It was the first time in 30 years that Congress had repealed a local law.
President Joe Biden signed the bill a few days later, to the surprise and outrage of some Democrats — prior to Congress vetoing the ordinance, he said he would not veto the bill, a likely tactic to harden his and Democrats’ transition to being tough on crime heading into the 2024 election.
However, the bipartisan effort that worked last time may not be replicated with the transparency bill appearing before the House on Wednesday: the White House said Biden will veto the measure should it come before his desk, which would make it his third presidential veto.
“The president believes that building community trust is integral to fighting crime. That’s something that you’ve heard him say,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said previously. “The president believes we should fund the police and give law enforcement the resources they need for effective, accountable, community policing, and at the same time should not weaken penalties for gun crimes.”
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who has led the charge to nullify the police reform bill, said the president’s statement of veto doesn’t matter and moving forward with the vote is the “right thing to do.”
“The President’s veto threat will not deter me in the fight to make our nation’s capital safe for all Americans,” he said in a statement to the Washington Post on Saturday. “I urge the president and Congressional Democrats to join our effort — as they did with my previous resolution to block the soft on crime Revised Criminal Code Act. Public safety is not a partisan issue, but a common-sense one.”
The vote to strike down the bill will likely pass the Republican majority in the House, but it is unclear if it would pass the Senate, where the Democrats hold a majority. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who represents the district but does not vote, said she does not expect a sizable loss of Democrats compared to those who voted to strike down the crime bill in March.
“They don’t care whether it will be vetoed,” Norton said of Republicans to the Washington Post. “I think they’re simply taking a stand, first against the District, and then against the reforms in the policing bill.”
Under the Washington, D.C. Home Rule Act, Congress has 60 days to review D.C. Council bills relating to criminal justice matters. If the House strikes down the bill on Wednesday, that gives the Senate a little over four weeks, or until about May 8, to deliberate over whether to send the bill to Biden’s desk.
The legislation is similar to the federal George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which earned the support of House Democrats in 2021, allowing it to pass the lower chamber before it ultimately failed in the Senate. Senate Republicans called the act a “nonstarter” after discussions regarding police brutality rose again following the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of five Memphis police officers.
Washington, D.C. leaders have argued that crime is getting better in the city and denied a “crime crisis” before the House Oversight Committee in March. So far, as of April 14, crime in Washington has increased 24% since this time last year. While some areas — such as assault with a dangerous weapon, burglary, and robbery — have decreased since 2022, homicide is up 31%, with total violent crime up 2%.
Recent shootings involving police officers have caught the attention of neighborhood advocates calling for more accountability from law enforcement, particularly after officers shot and killed Dalaneo Martin, a 17-year-old who was asleep in a stolen car, on March 18. He was shot at least five times in the back while he was driving away from the scene with an officer in his back seat, according to body camera footage provided by the U.S. Park Police.
In late March, a staffer of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was brutally attacked in broad daylight, suffering stab wounds to the head and injuries to the brain, skull, lungs, and abdomen. Glynn Neal was arrested after the attack and was reportedly released from prison, where he was serving a 12-year sentence on prostitution charges, just one day prior to the stabbing for good behavior. Neal was charged with assault with intent to kill for the attack on Paul’s staffer.
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The veto of the police reform bill will come after data was released showing that 67% of people arrested by police officers were not prosecuted by the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. However, Attorney Matthew Graves said that body-worn camera footage from police officers has contributed to the declining prosecution rates, as the gathered information can allow prosecutors to review at an earlier stage whether a crime has been committed and can prevent court proceedings that are not necessarily needed.
“Since 2019, we have been taking more time at arrest to determine if we are going to file charges,” he said at the time. “With body-worn camera and the proliferation of surveillance cameras, we have more information at the charging stage to assess the strength of the evidence we would be presenting later to courts and juries.”