President Joe Biden told Senate Democrats on Thursday he would not veto a Republican-led effort to roll back changes to the District of Columbia’s criminal code.
“He said that very clearly, and we heard that loud and clear,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the only Senate Democrat who has come out in support of the move to override the D.C. Council. “He said he will not veto. I guess he thinks it’s a bridge too far.”
Biden’s decision not to stand in the way of the GOP’s effort to oppose the council’s changes — which were years in the making but have been criticized by Republicans for lowering the maximum sentences for crimes like carjacking and burglary — will likely encourage other Senate Democrats to join Manchin.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) told reporters he thinks most Democrats would vote to throw out D.C.’s revised criminal code.
“Most of that bill has some very good changes, and then there’s some really problematic stuff which is why the mayor vetoed it in the first place,” Heinrich said. “So I think calling it a Home Rule thing is not so accurate as this is about getting it right when we all realize that there are some very serious crime issues.”
The move will also infuriate supporters of D.C. statehood, who bristle at any and all efforts by the federal government to interfere in local politics. The D.C. Council passed the changes, which mirror criminal code updates in states around the country, in a unanimous vote last year.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the changes in January, only for the council to override the veto in a 12-1 vote. Bowser and other Democrats have said they do not want Congress to interfere with local laws.
“To me, the Congress should not substitute its judgment for the elected representatives of the people of the District of Columbia,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said Thursday, adding that he was disappointed with Biden’s decision not to veto the resolution.
The House has already voted to block the D.C. Council’s proposed changes, with 31 Democrats joining every House Republican in voting to override the council.
“Today’s move to overturn our laws is not about making the District safer or more just,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, a supporter of the changes, said after the House vote. “Today’s actions are political grandstanding and highlight the urgent need for D.C. statehood.”
The GOP resolution needs only a simple majority vote in the Senate in order to head to Biden’s desk. According to several senators, the president did not explain his thinking to Senate Democrats at a special caucus lunch on Thursday, mentioning his plan in the middle of a speech on the Democratic agenda.
Biden’s controversial decision comes ahead of his expected run for reelection in 2024. Republicans sought to make crime a major issue in the 2022 midterm elections, and they’re doing so again ahead of the 2024 presidential election, talking up crime in Democratic-run cities.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called Biden’s move “smart” politics.
“You don’t want to get to the left of the [DC] mayor. It makes no sense to go light on gun crimes in DC,” Graham told HuffPost.
Arthur Delaney contributed reporting.
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