DC local leaders locked in battle with GOP following Senate vote to nullify police reform
Christine Queally
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The Senate voted on Tuesday to nullify a Washington, D.C., police reform and accountability measure passed by the D.C. Council, highlighting the struggle between GOP lawmakers and local leaders in the district who want autonomy to govern the city.
On Tuesday morning, ahead of the vote, activists and elected officials gathered at the Capitol to oppose congressional oversight of Washington.
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Local activists who spoke to the Washington Examiner said oversight isn’t necessary because district residents elect their own representatives to make policy decisions,
“We ought not have to go through a 90-day review after our City Council comes up with legislation for the citizens of the District of Columbia, after they’ve been voted and elected to perform those tasks in government,” Ron Hampton, former executive director of the National Black Police Association, said.
Republican lawmakers, though, claim the police reform measure in question would not deter criminal activity and would hurt the police force.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called it “the most anti-police policy to ever be jammed through the D.C. City Council.”
The Senate ultimately voted 56-43 in favor of the measure, putting President Joe Biden on the hook to make good on the promise he would veto the resolution if it made it to his desk.
However, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), the district’s sole representative and a nonvoting member of Congress, vowed to fight the decision.
“This vote goes against the letter and spirit of the Home Rule Act, and I hope to defeat it,” she said. “I will do everything in my power to make sure Congress keeps its hands off D.C.”
After the vote, she released a statement saying the Senate’s disapproval resolution on Washington policing reform would have no legal effect.
She stated that in addition to the promise from President Joe Biden, the “congressional review period outlined in the D.C. Home Rule Act expired before today’s vote.”
The D.C. Home Rule Act, first enacted in 1973, grants Washington the ability to govern itself and elect representatives to the offices of mayor and City Council.
The disapproval measure on the council’s police reform also passed in the House last month amid hearings held by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on the district government. Washington Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser was the key witness in the most recent hearing.
Initially, Bowser was opposed to the content of the council’s policing reform and accountability legislation, but she defended its right to govern as an elected body.
“I’ve learned over the years not to question the voters. As the congresswoman has said, they elect who they want. My job is to work with who the people send,” Bowser said.
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Activists who spoke to the Washington Examiner maintained the policing reforms the council passed were on par with national standards, but they say the policing issue represents a larger grievance district residents have with congressional oversight.
“It wasn’t really about individual policies. … Those are specific criminal things that this group has decided to hone in on. For us, it really isn’t about that. It’s about them trying to use our positioning in D.C. to score political points on them being tough on crime,” said Rev. Wendy Hamilton, board member for DC Vote and Ward 8 ANC commissioner.