Some House Democrats are boiling over at President Joe Biden‘s announcement that he won’t veto a bill that would block changes to Washington D.C.’s criminal code – just days after his administration blasted the proposal as a violation of ‘home rule.’
Biden announced the change Thursday after a meeting with Senate Democrats where he got asked about it. He cited a policy dispute between D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser and the City Council.
But that didn’t satisfy some members of his own party who are accustomed to Republicans seeking to overturn local policy decisions but have counted on Democratic pledges to push D.C. statehood and protect local decision-making authority.
‘The White House f***** this up royally,’ one House Democrat told The Hill newspaper. The lawmaker said party leaders that Biden was prepared to veto the resolution of disapproval – which likely would have stopped the move.
Some House Democratic lawmakers fumed after President Joe Biden announced he will sign a GOP-backed bill that would override a revised D.C. criminal code. Democratic lawmakers say the move violates home rule principles – and note that the White House was opposed to the bill when it came up in the House
Early last month, the White House Office of Management and Budget had issued a Statement of Administration Policy opposing the move as a ‘denial of self-governance.’
But with Democrats on the defensive on crime issues, amid poor polling and the defeat of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a primary where crime was an issue, Biden opted not to be associated with a measure that would weaken some criminal sentences.
‘So a lot of us who are allies voted no in order to support what the White House wanted. And now we are being hung out to dry,’ the lawmaker continued,’ the lawmaker vented via text. ‘F****** AMATEUR HOUR. HEADS SHOULD ROLL OVER AT THE WHITE HOUSE OVER THIS.’
Also bashing the turnaround was progressive ‘squad’ member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
‘This ain’t it. DC has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it,’ she wrote in a rebuke.
‘Plenty of places pass laws the President may disagree with. He should respect the people’s gov of DC just as he does elsewhere,’ she added.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had vetoed the changes to the criminal code, only to be overridden by the city council
‘This ain’t it. DC has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it,’ wrote Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in a rebuke
Biden’s decision to break with his party and the city on home rule comes amid rising concerns about crime
Biden tweeted about the move Thursday
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton also blasted the move
The OMB’s Statement of Administration Policy ripped the resolution, saying ‘This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded’
Many lawmakers learned about the turnaround suddenly. A Senate bill advancing the move could come up next week.
‘I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule – but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections – such as lowering penalties for carjackings,’ Biden tweeted after Senate Democrats confirmed Biden told them he at a party retreat that would sign it if the chamber passed it.
‘If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did – I’ll sign it,’ Biden wrote.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) called the turnaround ‘disappointing.’
‘It’s disappointing for me and anybody who believes in home rule, honestly. I’m a former mayor of a city of 70,000 and I wouldn’t want the federal government coming in and telling me what city ordinances to pass. … So I think it’s disappointing in that context.’
‘It’s smart politics. He was running into a buzzsaw,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters on Thursday. ‘You don’t want to get left of the DC mayor.’
Said D.C.’s Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who learned about the change after it broke during a press conference: ‘This is news to me, and I’m very disappointed in it, if he will not veto.’
The told the Washington Post: ‘I hope that he continues to say that he will oppose it.’
Biden also irked statehood fans when it was reported his presidential limo, known as ‘the Beast,’ does not bear the citiy’s ‘Taxation without Representation’ logo.
The OMB’s Statement of Administration Policy stated: ‘For far too long, the more than 700,000 residents of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded.’
‘While we work towards making Washington, D.C. the 51st state of our Union, Congress should respect the District of Columbia’s autonomy to govern its own local affairs,’ the OMB said.
There had been a clash within D.C.’s Democratic-dominated government.
The City Council last year approved changes that nixed some mandatory minimum sentences and reduced maximum sentences for robbery and burglary.
Bowser vetoed the plan but the council overrode her veto.
A total of 31 Democrats joined Republicans in backing the measure to preempt the new, under laws that allow Congress to intervene in the federal district, which was established by the Constitution.
