D.C. Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act of 2024
Floor Speech
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Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1227, I call up the bill (H.R. 7530) to limit youth offender status in the District of Columbia to individuals 18 years of age or younger, to direct the Attorney General of the District of Columbia to establish and operate a publicly accessible website containing updated statistics on juvenile crime in the District of Columbia, to amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to prohibit the Council of the District of Columbia from enacting changes to existing criminal liability sentences, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7530, the DC CRIMES Act.
The Committee on Oversight and Accountability has held three hearings with D.C. officials. Many members of the committee have met privately with various D.C. officials to discuss the crime crisis in our Nation's Capital.
Throughout this work, one thing has been made abundantly clear: The progressive policies of the District of Columbia City Council are simply not working.
Last year, the Congress successfully blocked the D.C. Council's Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 by passing the bipartisan H.J. Res. 26, the first law passed by the 118th Congress. That was a great first step toward addressing the rising crime in D.C., but that only kept the problem from getting much worse.
The bill we are considering today expands upon that work. The DC CRIMES Act overturns targeted portions of the D.C. Council's Youth Rehabilitation Act by amending the definition of a youth offender from a person under the age of 25 to under the age of 18.
Let me restate: The DC CRIMES Act overturns the targeted portions of the D.C. Council's Youth Rehabilitation Act by amending the definition of a youth offender from somebody under the age of 25 to under the age of 18.
Currently, D.C. Code allows a criminal under the age of 25 to be given the same leniency that is afforded to minors. This bill requires that we treat adult criminals as adults like the rest of the country does.
As juvenile crime soars throughout the District, the bill also requires the D.C. attorney general to create a publicly available website that tracks juvenile crime data. This data will inform Congress, the District's elected officials, the Metropolitan Police Department, the public, and others about the severity of juvenile crime in the District of Columbia.
Finally, the bill prohibits the D.C. Council from amending its sentencing and criminal liability laws, locking into place the current D.C. criminal law and leaving Congress as the sole authority to amend such laws in the future.
The D.C. Council would have succeeded in implementing radical soft- on-crime policies if it were not for the bipartisan effort of this Congress to disapprove of the D.C. Council's legislation. Even Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the progressive criminal reform package, only for her veto to be overturned by the D.C. City Council.
The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is committed to its constitutional responsibility to oversee the District of Columbia. We cannot allow further pro-crime policies to be put into place while this crisis continues.
Citizens of D.C. and the visitors of our Nation's Capital deserve to feel safe. This bill is a great step toward ensuring our Capital City is going to be safe.
Mr. Speaker, I always appreciate the fact that the ranking member thinks so much about my future. What I think about these days are actually the people of Washington, D.C., and all the people who come to visit the Nation's Capital.
I also find it very interesting that, yes, the D.C. City Council finally did something on March 11 after the Oversight Committee started working on solutions because the District of Columbia City Council refused to actually address the crime issues in D.C. until very recently. That is important for people to understand.
Secondarily, we do have a constitutional obligation to the District of Columbia. The ranking member is well aware of that. Congress does have the authority to execute that authority if the council will not do it. They have refused until very recently, and so Congress is going to assert its authority to make sure that we try to secure the District to the best of our ability.
Last thing, to my friend on the other side of the aisle, I doubt anybody will confuse me with King George. I don't think we look alike. With that being said, it is very different when you are talking about a far-off capital across the ocean versus the Nation's Capital sitting in the Federal enclave, which is the District of Columbia. Congress has a responsibility to the District, and Congress should assert that authority with this language.
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Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to reassert that the Constitution is clear on this matter, that Congress does have responsibilities and that the District of Columbia is under the jurisdiction of the United States Congress. That has been clear since the beginning of the Republic.
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Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, could you please advise on how much time is remaining.
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Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, the only thing I would say in response to the gentleman from Maryland is that the D.C. Council has had ample opportunity to fix these issues in D.C., and they have refused until very recently, so it is just a matter of simple logic that unless Congress actually decides to use its authority, what would make us think that the D.C. Council will actually act in the interests of the citizens of the District?
The citizens of the District, I am quite sure, would love to have a safe city. The issue is that the Council has not acted toward actually having a safe city, and that is a significant problem for the Federal enclave because, I will state again, D.C. is a Federal enclave. Article I, Section 8, Clause 17, the Federal enclave is under the jurisdiction of the United States Congress, and we are acting under this legislation.
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Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, I find that we are at this point in the debate where my friend from Maryland has lost the debate because now he is going back talking about other things that are not about the merits of this bill.
Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I was about to comment that sooner or later you had to expect that the debate would be a rant about Donald Trump.
Let's get back to the subject matter at hand perhaps. To clarify, since the point has been raised repeatedly and continues to be repeated, here is what the D.C. Council would be prohibited from doing: enact any act, resolution, or rule to change any criminal liability sentence in effect on the date of the enactment of the DC CRIMES Act of 2024.
Nothing would keep the D.C. Council from creating new crimes. Nothing whatsoever. In fact, they would not be able to increase crime sentences, existing sentences for crimes, but they sure haven't shown any inclination whatsoever to do that.
The law professor from Maryland also made another elementary mistake in his recitation of the facts. As they said in law school, you have got to know the facts. He said that ``crime is down 16 percent in the past year in D.C.''
Look a little closer. Go to the website MPDC.DC.gov. That is the website for the Metropolitan Police Department. That reduction in crime that was cited, that is only for this year to date. Go look at last year, 2023. In that situation: homicide, up 35 percent; robbery, up 67 percent; violent crime total, up 39 percent, et cetera. Across the board, all crime totaled up 26 percent, just last year.
I know it is out of memory now because we are into the first few months of the next year, but it hasn't gone away. The victims haven't gone away.
Here is what the gentleman from Maryland said, the law professor, that Thomas Jefferson would understand, but the Constitution that Thomas Jefferson signed said: ``[The Congress shall have power . . . ] to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding 10 miles square) as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all places purchased . . . ''
That is pretty clear. It is not only the question of the interests of the roughly 700,000 D.C. citizens; it is the 19 million Americans who come to the seat of government every year and are threatened by the recklessness of the D.C. Council.
A moment's refresher about how we got to this place: The D.C. Council's radical rewrite of the entire criminal law that was reversed by H.J. Res. 26, which 31 Democrats voted to disapprove along with the majority, two Democrats from my home State, and eight Democrats couldn't bring themselves to vote. The rest of the extreme Democrats voted to stay out of the way, let them do what they wanted to.
Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, the Senate voted to disapprove, 81-14, and the President of the United States, Joe Biden, faithful Democrat, signed the legislation even though many extreme Democrats supported the D.C. Council's reckless action.
Then the other matter, H.J. Res. 42, to disapprove the ``Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022,'' which Mayor Bowser also vetoed, and they overrode her veto.
They did all kinds of stuff to leave police officers at the tender mercies. They require juries to consider if officers consulted mental health, behavioral health, or social workers before using deadly force; imposed approval hurdles for the use of riot gear and nonlethal munitions necessary to protect officers; eliminated officers and union representatives from police complaint boards, restricted officers from using body cam footage in preparing reports, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
It is sheer recklessness, and it should be changed, and the way to change it is for Congress to take back the authority over criminal sentencing.
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Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.
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Mr. DONALDS. The District of Columbia thinks that you are to be tried as a minor if you are 23 years of age. Nowhere else in the United States does that exist--nowhere--except in the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia Council has been derelict in its duty to actually provide for safety and security for the residents of the District of Columbia and the 19 million-plus Americans who come to the Federal enclave to visit the Nation's Capital.
For all the talk of political points that have been made in this debate, that has only come from my friend on the other side of the aisle.
He has talked about everything from President Trump to political talking points to political futures. He has talked very little about the reality that exists here in the Nation's Capital.
It doesn't take much for anybody to just see, whether it is on the nightly news, or frankly, just walking down the streets somewhere in the District of Columbia that something has gone very, very wrong.
Even here in this very building, Members and their staffs have experienced that. Our colleague from Minnesota (Ms. Craig) was assaulted in an elevator in her own apartment building.
Our colleague on the other side of this building, Senator Paul, his staffer was stabbed when walking home from work.
The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar), a Democrat Member of this Chamber, he was robbed and carjacked with guns pointed at his head blocks away from the United States Capitol.
You see, Mr. Speaker, these are not political talking points. This is real life. It is easy for the Members to come in and out of this building when we have security apparatus around us every single day but not take seriously what is happening in the streets of the Nation's Capital. This legislation takes that seriously.
I will end with this: It is not a time for election-year stunts. I agree with that 100 percent, which is why this legislation is about having structural reforms to what has happened in the District of Columbia.
This is why the age for being tried as a minor is being decreased to under the age of 18, which mirrors what happens in every other part of the United States and should also occur here in the Nation's Capital.
This is a good piece of legislation. I encourage Members on both sides of the aisle to vote for this. We have a responsibility to provide for a safe Washington, D.C., that the citizens can enjoy and that the people of the United States can enjoy.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
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