D.C.’s police reform measures that aim to increase accountability could be blocked in the Senate as early as Tuesday.
Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance introduced the disapproval resolution last week. It is the companion to the resolution passed by the House on Apr. 19.
“It’s a disgrace that the capital of the most powerful nation on earth has become so dangerous, but this sad reality is exactly what we should expect when far-left activists are calling the shots,” Vance wrote in a statement. “For the good of every American who lives in or visits this town, I urge my colleagues to support my disapproval motion.”
He and other Republicans point to staggering crimes rates, specifically homicides which are up 7% over the same time last year and carjackings, which have seen a 114% rise since last year, according to recent D.C. police data.
The Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 was passed by the D.C. council in December. On Jan. 19, it was submitted for congressional review and it took effect on April 21.
The law aims to increase transparency and accountability for police officers and is a permanent version of emergency legislation passed in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
It bans chokeholds, requires officers to use de-escalation tactics before using force and provides better access to body cameras records for the public. It also places certain limitations for consensual searches by officers.
Those in favor of the legislation argue these resolutions in Congress violate the District’s self rule.
“The House of Representatives, in which the nearly 700,000 District of Columbia residents have no voting representation, is attempting to nullify legislation enacted by the local legislature whose members are elected by D.C. residents,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, on the house floor. “By scheduling this vote, I can only conclude that the Republican leadership believes that D.C. residents, the majority of whom are black and brown, are unworthy of governing themselves.”
While many in the District are opposed to congressional intervention, others, such as the D.C. Police Union, welcome it.
D.C. Police Union Chairman Greggory Pemberton wrote in a letter to Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, “This Act is a dangerous law that destroys collective bargaining rights for police officers in our nation’s capital, creates a public database with no protections for undercover police officers, reduces less-lethal options for law enforcement during a riot, and further contributes to the staffing crisis of the Metropolitan Police Department.”
Crime has skyrocketed in the Nation’s Capital since the DC Council passed crippling pro-criminal / anti-police legislation.
The House disapproved the law 226-189. Now, the Senate must act.
Pass @Rep_Clyde & @JDVance1 HJ 42!
Visit https://t.co/8zDRdcfdmT pic.twitter.com/ftWSAg5FiY
— DC Police Union (@DCPoliceUnion) May 15, 2023
Congressional oversight of the District is written into the Constitution. Though under the Home Rule Act, a joint resolution from both chambers must come within 60 days of submission to the House Speaker and President of the Senate – a deadline that has already passed.
“It’s too little too late,” Patrice Snow with D.C. Vote, a statehood advocacy organization, wrote in a statement. “Simply put, the sixty day window to undemocratically reverse the original legislation has expired so Senator Vance’s bill carries no weight.”
Ohio Senator JD Vance has announced he will introduce the disapproval resolution in the Senate to overturn DC’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022. In light of this harmful development, @DCVote‘s @PatriceSnow released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/GofkbcPbfu
— DC Vote (@DCVote) May 12, 2023
“The effort by Senate Republicans to advance a disapproval resolution now, after the 60-day review period has expired, has no legal consequence for the validity of the law, and is nothing more than empty political grandstanding,” wrote Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb in a statement today.
Both resolutions in the House and Senate are likely moot. Last month, President Joe Biden stated he would veto any resolution that crossed his desk.
