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Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Wisconsin for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong opposition to amendment No. 25 which would place the mayor of the District of Columbia in charge of the D.C. National Guard.

I can't believe this even has to be said, but the D.C. mayor is not the Governor of a State, and the District of Columbia, which houses our Federal Government, is not and should never become a State.

Under current law, the President of the United States, our Nation's commander in chief, is the authority over the D.C. National Guard and also appoints its commissioned officers.

The President has held that authority for more than two centuries since the inception of the D.C. National Guard under President Thomas Jefferson in 1802.

The President has delegated the authority to deploy the D.C. National Guard to the Secretary of Defense, who has further delegated that authority to the Secretary of the Army. These are Federal officials accountable to the President of the United States.

Under this amendment, the D.C. mayor, not the President, would be in charge of the D.C. National Guard, including deployments and appointing its commissioned officers, so the President would be stripped of his role entirely.

Think about it. Taking the authority from the President and giving it to a mayor. Never. That is completely unacceptable. The D.C. mayor must not have equal authorities as Governors of States and territories have over their National Guards because the D.C. mayor is not a Governor, and the District of Columbia is a Federal district, not a State or a territory.

In addition, the current mayor has previously attempted to use the D.C. National Guard for political purposes, calling for their withdrawal from the district during the summer riots of 2020, and seeking to significantly limit the D.C. National Guard's role to traffic control duties only prior to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. This further demonstrates that the D.C. mayor should play no role in the deployment of the D.C. National Guard troops.

Again, the District of Columbia is a Federal district and is not a State, and the Constitution directs that it should never be a State. The District of Columbia is a Federal district with substantial Federal concerns and facilities.

The President of the United States should control the D.C. National Guard, not an office whose resident has already demonstrated a lack of judgment when it comes to the use of the D.C. National Guard.

Simply, the filing of this amendment is another example of why it is time to roll back home rule and return management of the city to Congress as stipulated by the Constitution.

Article I, Section 8 starts with: ``The Congress shall have power,'' and in clause 17, it states, ``To exercise exclusive legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over the District . . . `' That is our Constitution. That is what we abide by. I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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