Disapproving the Action of the District of Columbia Council in Approving the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I, too, want to acknowledge the great work of the Senator from Tennessee, Senator Hagerty, on this matter on which we will be voting later this afternoon. It has to do with the issue of DC crime.

I think he has touched a nerve in a way that I think is going to lead to a very big bipartisan outcome on this because it is a recognition that the issue he addresses with this resolution is one that the American people, I think, feel deeply about; one that is affecting our cities, both large and small, across this country; and one on which I think this United States Senate needs to be heard.

The last weekend in February, eight men were fatally shot in Washington, DC--eight men in a single weekend. It was a tragic illustration of the current crime situation in our Nation's Capital. Homicides in Washington, DC, which had already reached disturbing heights in 2021 and 2022, are up 33 percent so far this year compared to this point a year ago. We are just 67 days into 2023, but so far this year, there have been 101 carjackings--that is a motor vehicle theft where the victim is actually present--66 percent of those involving guns. There have been a staggering 1,258 motor vehicle thefts to date this year--1,258. That is an average of roughly 19 motor vehicle thefts every single day--19 thefts every day.

In the face of the crime surge DC has been experiencing for a while now, the DC City Council recently decided to pass legislation weakening penalties for a number of crimes. The bill the council passed late last year would reduce the maximum penalty for crimes like carjacking, robbery, and firearm offenses; remove mandatory minimum sentences for all crimes except first-degree murder; clog up the court system by substantially expanding access to trial by jury to individuals charged with misdemeanors; and more.

Later today, we will be taking up legislation here in the U.S. Senate to block the bill. Congress, of course, has the legal authority to block DC ordinances thanks to Federal legislation rooted in the Constitution which gives Congress legislative jurisdiction over the seat of the U.S. Government--namely, Washington, DC.

It looks like today's vote will receive strong support from both parties. That certainly was not looking like it would have been the case a week ago. Last month, the Biden administration issued a statement opposing the move to block DC's crime bill. When the House took up the measure, 82 percent of House Democrats voted against blocking the DC bill. But last week, the President changed his tune. He announced that he would not veto the attempt to block the DC bill. Since then, Senate Democrats have been lining up to announce they will vote to block DC's measure.

I am pleased Democrats have recognized that weakening criminal penalties is not the way to address DC's crime surge. Blocking DC's crime bill will be a victory for common sense and for the people of DC, who deserve a safe city in which to live.

While I am pleased at the expected outcome of today's vote, I remain deeply concerned about how we got here in the first place. How have we gotten to the point where some people think that an appropriate response to a surge in crime is to weaken criminal penalties, to a point where ideology has overtaken common sense, to the detriment of public safety? Part of the answer lies in the deeply troubling surge in anti-law enforcement rhetoric over the past few years and the accommodation of it by members of the Democratic Party.

There has been talk of defunding our most essential public servants-- the police; characterization of our justice system as fundamentally unjust; an attitude that the answer to crime is not to try to stop it from taking place but to stop punishing criminals. The Democratic Party has been deeply complicit in this. One leading Democrat Senator and Democrat Presidential candidate had this to say a few years ago:

Let's just start with the hard truth about our criminal justice system. It's racist. It is. And when I say our system, I mean all the way. I mean front to back.

That from a leading Democrat Senator and Democrat Presidential candidate.

She is not the only prominent Democrat who has spoken that way. Many other Democrats, of course, have not been that explicit, but they have tried to have it both ways--attempting to say they support the police on one hand, while also accommodating the radical elements of their party who want to tear down our justice system and demonize not just a few bad police officers but a whole community of public servants who put their lives on the line for us every single day.

President Biden is a striking example of this. As his about-face on the DC crime bill makes clear, he is eager to portray himself as a supporter of law and order, especially, I assume, given that polling has made it clear Americans are deeply concerned about crime. But at the same time that he is trying to portray himself as anti-crime, he is nominating individuals to serve in his administration who have engaged in anti-police rhetoric.

The President can't have it both ways, and his attempt and Democrats' attempt to do so has helped a troubling anti-law enforcement, anti- justice system narrative to gain hold in our communities.

One thing I always think about when I hear anti-law enforcement rhetoric is how little attention is paid to the victim. People speak negatively about criminal penalties or overpolicing, but they don't talk about the victims of violent crimes and what it is like to live in a place where you literally fear for your safety.

As DC's Mayor recently said:

We have to think about victims of crime as much as we think about perpetrators.

I would argue, more than we think about perpetrators.

But, too often, the focus of discussions is almost entirely on perpetrators, with little attention paid to the victims of crime or the consequences of tolerating criminal activity.

As the DC police chief recently said of DC's bill:

Where's the victim in all of this? Who does this actually help? Is the victim being helped or is it the person who victimizes? I don't think victims win in that space. And again, that is a nonstarter for me.

That from the DC police chief, speaking of the very bill we are going to block today.

Bills like the DC City Council's bill should be a nonstarter for everyone. Democratic politicians need to stop accommodating the common ideology that thinks reducing criminal penalties is an appropriate response to crime.

I am thankful, as I said, for the Senator from Tennessee's leadership and that later today we are going to vote to block legislation that would endanger DC residents and visitors to our Nation's Capital. I hope--I sincerely hope--this bill will mark a return to common sense as we work to battle crime in DC and around the country.

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Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch).

The result was announced--yeas 81, nays 14, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 49 Leg.] YEAS--81 Baldwin Barrasso Bennet Blackburn Blumenthal Boozman Braun Britt Brown Budd Cantwell Capito Casey Cassidy Collins Coons Cornyn Cortez Masto Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Daines Ernst Fischer Gillibrand Graham Grassley Hagerty Hassan Hawley Heinrich Hickenlooper Hoeven Hyde-Smith Johnson Kaine Kelly Kennedy King Klobuchar Lankford Lee Lujan Lummis Manchin Marshall McConnell Menendez Moran Mullin Murkowski Murray Ossoff Padilla Paul Peters Ricketts Romney Rosen Rounds Rubio Schatz Schmitt Schumer Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shaheen Sinema Smith Stabenow Sullivan Tester Thune Tillis Tuberville Vance Warner Wicker Wyden Young NAYS--14 Booker Cardin Duckworth Durbin Hirono Markey Merkley Murphy Reed Sanders Van Hollen Warren Welch Whitehouse ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--1 Warnock NOT VOTING--4 Carper Feinstein Fetterman Risch

The joint resolution (H.J. Res. 26) was passed.

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