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. HOEVEN. Madam President, I join my colleagues today to speak regarding the rising crime rate in our country. Crimes, specifically violent crimes, are exploding at troubling rates nationwide. Crimes are at a 25-year high across the country.

Connected to the rise in crime is the Biden administration's open border policy, which is resulting in increased drug and human trafficking. At the same time, radical proposals to ``defund the police'' are the exact opposite of what we should be doing right now, which is supporting our men and women in law enforcement. We need to do that by giving them the resources, the tools, and training needed to do their job and protect our communities.

We must strive to protect our communities, enforce our laws, support our men and women in blue, and keep criminals off the street. Our Nation's Capital is, unfortunately, a prime example of the problems that we are having with crime right now in our cities. Crime is up 25 percent since March of 2022. In that same timeframe, homicides are up 30 percent and motor vehicle theft is up 110 percent.

As the center of our government and the symbol of our country, this is simply unacceptable. And instead of working to protect our Nation's Capital and all our constituents who visit here--and there are many of them here today--the DC Council has voted to ease violent crime penalties.

Last fall, the DC Council passed the Revised Criminal Code Act, which greatly weakens the criminal justice system here in the District of Columbia. This bill is so problematic that the Mayor of DC vetoed the bill, stating that ``it does not make us safe.''

DC's law enforcement community is also deeply alarmed by the bill, raising concerns of overwhelming the court system and exploding the already-high violent crime rate here in the District of Columbia.

We must get serious about protecting safety and addressing the nationwide rise in crime by supporting our law enforcement and ensuring they have the resources and training they need to protect our communities.

That is why I helped to introduce the Resolution of Disapproval to prevent such a reckless rewrite of the DC Criminal Code from taking effect. And I thank the good Senator from Tennessee for taking the lead in this very, very important matter.

As legislators, we should focus on keeping criminals off our streets, instead of attempting to weaken sentences for violent crimes and criminals. Let's get back to the basics and support our law enforcement and ensure they have the tools they need to keep our communities safe.

Again, we have people visiting here from all over the country. This isn't just the District of Columbia where people live like another city. This is our Nation's Capital. People come here from all over the country. They should feel safe. They should feel safe in our Nation's Capital.

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