House committee passes several D.C. crime crackdown proposals in heated partisan hearing

Capitol Hill lawmakers on Wednesday moved several D.C.-focused proposals through the House Oversight Committee as Republicans and Democrats sparred over solutions to public safety and homelessness in the nation’s capital.

Republicans slammed their liberal colleagues for ignoring high crime rates and aggressive vagrants living on D.C. streets while voting to pass bills that lower the age juveniles can be charged as adults, relax restrictions on police tactics and impose mandatory minimums for a variety of violent crimes.

Democrats, who opposed nearly all the proposals, accused GOP members of being patsies for President Trump’s desire to exert more control over the federal city.

They said the motivation to preside over the District, which the federal government has the constitutional authority to do so, is being done under the pretext of a drummed-up crime crisis pushed by Mr. Trump.

The verbal scrum started in earnest when Rep. Melanie Stansbury, New Mexico Democrat, said Republicans only took up these policy issues in light of Mr. Trump’s federal surge of law enforcement authorities and National Guard troops into the District last month.

She claimed Republicans were coordinating with the White House to undermine the local leadership and the will of District residents while debating the “Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Act.”

“I don’t think that it is any mistake that this markup to vote these bills out of committee is happening on the last day that Donald Trump has ordered our nation’s National Guard to occupy this city,” Ms. Stansbury said.

The lawmaker then grilled Rep. John McGuire, Virginia Republican and the bill’s sponsor, for saying he wants to “codify” elements of Mr. Trump’s crime emergency into law.

The bill’s text proposes turning the federal law enforcement presence, including the immigration crackdown, into mainstays of everyday life in the District.

Mr. McGuire countered by saying people are grateful for the federal action since they can “walk down the street and walk their dog and ride on a subway without getting stabbed.”

Rep. Clay Higgins, Louisiana Republican, celebrated Ms. Stansberry’s “performance” for showcasing how out of touch Democrats are on crime.

“Your display demonstrates exactly the sort of elitist, arrogant tone that Americans across the country are going to recognize as the hallmark of your party,” Mr. Higgins said.

Federal officials said the surge has netted more than 2,300 arrests and 225 gun seizures during the 30-day emergency, which formally ended Wednesday.

Another bill passed by the committee aims to crack down on unlawful camping in the District.

The proposal says offenders can face both a $500 fine and spend up to 30 days in jail for pitching a tent on a sidewalk, park or other public space. The bill also said federal law enforcement can handcuff vagrants who violate the potential statute.

Rep. William Timmons, the South Carolina Republican who sponsored the bill, called out Rep. Robert Garcia for allowing similar ordinances to be upheld in the Democrat’s home district of Long Beach, California.

Mr. Timmons said it resulted in hundreds of arrests in the city that Mr. Garcia previously served as mayor.

Rep. Brandon Gill, Texas Republican, proposed lowering the age juveniles could be tried as adults in the District from 16 to 14.

He said close to 3,000 youths have been arrested in the nation’s capital since 2023 — the year the city experienced a generational crime wave of killings, muggings and carjackings, the last of which was heavily influenced by juveniles.  

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s non-voting representative, opposed the proposal saying it turns reformable youths into career criminals.

“The evidence shows that children charged as adults are more likely to reoffend and be violent than children charged as juveniles,” the Democrat said.

Republicans also advanced bills on reinstituting cash bail in the District, and removed restrictions on police tactics passed by the D.C. Council.

Leaders of the D.C. Police Union argued the law addressing police procedures stripped legal protections for officers and has contributed to the 50-year-low in officers patrolling the city’s streets.

Additionally, lawmakers passed a proposal giving Congress the ability to conduct line item vetoes of D.C. laws during their mandatory congressional review period.

The bill further grants Congress a full 60 days to review laws passed by the D.C. Council and the mayor’s executive orders.

Currently, Capitol Hill has 60 days to assess new laws when it comes to public safety, but only 30 days for all other types of statutes.

The bills will go before the full House for a vote following Wednesday’s markup.