DC Criminal Code

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I was on the plane--Southwest Airlines to be specific--this particular Monday, flying up from Oklahoma City to Washington, DC, to be able to come here to the office, begin to do a week of work.

The plane was absolutely filled with people coming in that also work in DC in different Agencies, lots of tourist groups that are actually coming up, groups of students that are here. All kinds of folks were on the plane because they were coming to Washington, DC, because it is the Nation's Capital. It is the Nation's Capital and the spot where the entire world--every diplomat from every country--comes to Washington, DC, to be able to meet with Members of the Senate, Members of the House, the President, and the Executive team. They come to be able to interact because this is the central point of the government of the United States. They expect to come and to be able to see the White House, be able to see the Capitol, be able to tour around phenomenal Smithsonian institutions and be able to see that.

This is what they also see when they come to Washington, DC, now. That is the common view that is also around the city because, in the last few years, since the ``defund the police'' movement took over the city council, the city council in Washington, DC, did several things.

They took out student resource officers in schools, saying that SROs--the student resource officers in schools--they were what they called a pipeline from school to prison. So to solve the issues around schools, they just stopped enforcing in the schools. And do you know what has happened? Crime has gone up around schools, and problems have continued in schools.

Crime has gone up 25 percent just in the last year in Washington, DC--just in the last year. So far, in 2023, according to the Metropolitan Police Department--now, remember, we are in March of 2023. So far in 2023, there has already been 38 homicides in this city, 215 assaults with a dangerous weapon, 298 robberies, 164 burglaries, 1,182 motor vehicle thefts, and from last year to this year, arson is already up 300 percent in Washington, DC. And this has become the common sight around the city.

What in the world is going on? In the middle of rampant increase in crime in Washington, DC, the DC City Council's response to this in an overwhelming vote was to reduce penalties for felonies and to be able to say that if you commit a misdemeanor, then you actually have to have a jury trial as well, knowing full well that would clog up the courts, and basically misdemeanors would never be heard, and so they just wouldn't happen. No one would actually get a misdemeanor record in Washington, DC.

So their plan to end this rampant increase in crime is just not to enforce the law, and if you were caught, you would get out faster, to get back to the street to be able to commit crimes again.

Listen, there are amazing people who live in this area, Washington, DC, remarkable residents who love this city and love this country, and they do not want to be afraid for their kids going to school.

We had a gentleman who actually worked full time to provide what they call safe passages for kids to be able to get back and forth from their homes to their schools. His whole focus was just to be able to bring down crime in Washington, DC. He was murdered not long ago on one of those same streets in DC.

This should not be so for this great capital and for this great Nation, and the response should not be, we are just not going to enforce the law. That is what the DC Council has said they are going to do.

To her credit, the Mayor of Washington, DC, vetoed that bill when it came out of the city council, and the city council overrode her veto and said: No, we are going to do it anyway.

In response, Senator Bill Hagerty has brought up what is called a Congressional Review Act, a challenge to this, and he has taken the next step to be able to say it is not just a Congressional Review Act but to say Congress has the responsibility and the right to actually watch over what happens here.

This is not outside the bounds of Congress's responsibility. The U.S. Constitution, article I, section 8, line 17, says this. Here is the responsibility of Congress:

[Congress should] exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such District . . . as may, by cessation of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the United States.

That is describing where we are right now. In our constitutional responsibility, Congress has the responsibility to oversee what is happening in Washington, DC, and to make sure this area is a safe place.

Congress, in decades past, has passed over what is called home rule to Washington, DC, to say to the city council: You have the responsibility to be able to make decisions for what is going on. But Congress still has the congressional, constitutional responsibility to be able to oversee DC. So it is entirely appropriate for Senator Hagerty to bring this up and say it is time that Congress steps in on the city council and speaks out for our constitutional obligation and says we cannot have rampant crime in the seat of our Republic.

This vote that is coming up tomorrow is going to override the city council. It is hard to believe that the U.S. Congress has to vote to override a city council vote, but that is our constitutional responsibility, and we should take that and be able to do it.

This is important for the safety of all those folks who were on that plane with me and for all the folks who are coming next week from Oklahoma who will be on spring break. This city will be full of Oklahomans who come to visit all these museums, and it needs to be a safe place for them to be able to be in, and it needs to be a spot they want come to, not a spot that looks like this everywhere all over the streets. This should not be so.

It is time that we speak out for a simple principle: Defunding the police, decriminalizing criminal activity, taking school resource officers out of schools, and saying ``We just won't enforce the law'' doesn't stop crime; it accelerates crime.

For the good people of Washington, DC, they just want a safe city to live in. For folks who work and tour here, they just want to come to a safe place where they are not afraid. Let's invite them to come see the capital, not see this all over the city.

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