District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 879, I call up the bill (H.R. 5214) to require mandatory pretrial and post conviction detention for crimes of violence and dangerous crimes and require mandatory cash bail for certain offenses that pose a threat to public safety or order in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. COMER.

Mr. Speaker, cashless bail allows dangerous and violent criminals on our streets. For far too long, dangerous criminals have been allowed to roam the streets of Washington, D.C., posing a threat to the general public. Progressive, activist judges are currently allowed to release criminals to D.C.'s streets with only a promise that they will not reoffend and will return to court for their trial date.

The District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act would take away a judge's ability to release these violent criminals. It would require judges to hold anyone charged with a violent crime before trial, and it would impose cash bail or bail bonds on anyone charged with a range of public safety or law-and-order offenses.

This is a smart and long overdue reform that rectifies the ill- conceived policies currently enacted in the District.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this commonsense public safety bill, and I thank Representative Stefanik for her leadership on this issue and the National Fraternal Order of Police for their support.
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Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.

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Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, just to respond to our new colleague here who hasn't worked in Congress very long, this bill passed constitutional muster with the House Legislative Counsel, CRS, and various outside stakeholders. None of our Democrat colleagues brought up these concerns during the markup.

Let me say this. For those of us who have worked here in Washington, D.C., for a decade, we are very aware of the crime, the repeat offenders, and the juvenile crime rates in Washington, D.C., so we are taking action to try to make our Capital City a safer place. That is why I strongly support this bill.

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Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentlewoman that we believe on this side of the aisle that lowering the crime rate is a big issue. It is a priority for the American people.

The gentlewoman from New Mexico mentioned the government shutdown. I would like to remind the gentlewoman from New Mexico that she voted to shut the government down. Then, she had an opportunity 43 days later to reopen the government, and she voted against reopening the government. That is something that I think she must have mistakenly omitted from her remarks.

Again, we support every measure that can be done to reduce crime and to get criminals that have committed crimes and keep them in jail. They deserve due process, but we can't continue this trend in these cities, especially the Capital City, of letting violent criminals out back on the streets.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5214 will ensure that violent offenders remain off of the streets of D.C. while awaiting their trial and that those charged with public safety or order offenses will face further deterrence from committing such crimes through the reinstatement of required cash bail and bail bonds.

Overall, D.C. residents, workers, and visitors to our Nation's Capital should feel safe, and it remains the constitutional duty of Congress to reform Washington, D.C.'s laws when necessary to do so.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation to bring law and order to D.C. by ensuring that dangerous criminals will not re-offend before their trial date.

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