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Floor Speech

I won't go through the statistics, but one I remember, in particular, after an episode of carjacking by juveniles who basically had impunity because they weren't prosecuted by the U.S. attorney here in the District of Columbia, the previous U.S. attorney--once President Trump deployed the National Guard, those carjackings went down 87 percent--87 percent.

And as I drive through some of the areas of Washington, DC, like Barracks Row, over near the Marine barracks, or Lafayette Park, I see more people out enjoying the weather and the beautiful city that we happen to be in, unconcerned for their personal safety now that President Trump has taken this important, important step to deploy the National Guard.

Now, I would just point out to my colleague--he knows this--that the National Guard is organized under State authority ordinarily, under title 32 of the United States Code, but they can be federalized under title 10. And there is no question that President Trump, as Commander in Chief, has the authority to call up the National Guard to enforce Federal law and to protect Federal facilities.

Federal law applies to the entire Nation. It really is amazing to me to see our colleagues on the other side of the aisle employ some of the same arguments made by the pro-slavery States back before the Civil War--this doctrine of nullification is what it was called; it was sort of back in the heyday of States' rights--where the Federal law would apply to the Nation but southern legislators, Governors, and Members of Congress would say: Well, the State has a right to nullify Federal law.

Well, that obviously is a discarded theory that has no weight whatsoever. President Trump is well within his constitutional bounds to enforce the law--Federal law--in cities across the country. In fact, just yesterday, the Ninth Circuit panel authorized President Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Portland, staying the lower court's unlawful order.

It is mind-boggling to me to see now Senate Democrats, who have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution like all of us have, opposing Federal efforts to intervene in cities to enforce Federal law and to protect Federal property, just as they have done here in Washington, DC. But the response has been dramatically different in cities like Portland or Chicago, led by Democratic mayors. Even though in Washington, DC, Mayor Bowser, I think, is not exactly a rock-ribbed conservative, but she understands the importance of law and order to a prospering city where everybody feels safe.

Last year, Portland was ranked in the top three largest cities in the country with the highest property crime rates, with nearly 1 incident for every 25 residents, a staggering amount. More than 5,000 car thefts were reported across the city of Portland. I can't imagine that any individual resident of Portland or any other crime-ridden city wouldn't welcome the opportunity to live in a safe environment.

I encourage the mayor of Portland and the mayors of other blue cities rife with violent crime to look to Mayor Bowser as an example, here in DC, of how to work with the Federal Government to enforce the laws and make their cities safer.

As I indicated earlier, here in the District of Columbia, it is like day and night, compared to how it was under the previous administration.

Here are some statistics: Compared to 2024, homicides have declined 25 percent; robberies have gone down 35 percent; and overall violent crime has gone down by 28 percent. I already mentioned the reduction in carjackings.

So President Trump is making our cities and streets safer by enforcing Federal law, and I would hope our Democratic colleagues would not try to thwart those efforts, which will make our cities less safe.

There can be no legitimate argument that President Trump does not have this authority to enforce Federal law using Federal officials, and we know this has happened by our various States in the past. For example, during the 4 years of the Biden administration, where we essentially had open borders, Governor Abbott, the Texas Governor, ordered the National Guard and the department of public safety to back up the Border Patrol, who were overwhelmed by the open border policies of the Biden administration.

Now, they weren't actually doing police work, but they were taking a huge burden off of the Border Patrol that allowed them to do their job and to focus on securing the border. That is largely the role the National Guard is playing now. They are not doing police work. They are supporting local law enforcement, freeing them up so they can do their job to keep their communities safer, something I would think that we would all applaud.

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