Congress met in a rare show of bipartisanship this week. What brought the two opposing sides together? Well, it wasn’t about finding out about the debt ceiling or the war in Ukraine He was voting against a proposed new criminal code for Washington, D.C.
The new law had been in the works for more than a decade and would have been the first overhaul of the county’s criminal laws since 1901. Many of the changes were uncontroversial, but federal lawmakers could not get past the updated maximum penalties for certain acts of violence. crimes.
Advocates said these changes would have brought the code into line with sentences already handed down by judges. But this argument was not convincing to Republicans – and many Democrats – in Congress, as the proposal was criticized as being “soft on crime.” The D.C. mayor and chief of police also objected to aspects of the modernization on similar grounds.
Republicans in Congress lash out at mayors of big cities all the time, but they don’t have the power to step in and change local laws—except D.C. Although D.C. has been “self-governing” since the 1970s, by law every bill passed by the D.C. City Council goes to Congress for review.
Then the president has the last word. They can prevent Congress from rejecting district legislation. In the past, President Joe Biden has been a strong supporter of D.C.’s autonomy. But not this time.
“I support Washington, D.C.’s state system and self-government — but I don’t support some of the changes that the D.C. Council has put forward over the mayor’s objections — such as reducing penalties for auto theft,” the president said. chirp.
He said this saga was a brutal setback for advocates of increasing the capital’s autonomy Martin Ostermohla reporter at WAMU in the area who for years covered the proposed criminal code update.
“There’s usually a lot of noise from Republicans on the Hill where they hate the things Washington, D.C. does, and that’s mostly because this is a Democratic city,” Ostermohl said. Explain today Co-hosted by Shaun Rameswaram. “But to get this far and unite Democrats and Republicans on this issue against a boycott is unheard of.”
Below is an excerpt from the conversation between Autermuhle and Rameswaram, edited for length and clarity.
Sean Rameswaram
Can you just remind people how the D.C. government works in concert with the federal government?
Martin Ostermohl
Yes, it is one of those things that is very confusing in the sense that there is no other place in the country quite like the capital. First of all, the capital is not a country. The capital only got its own mayor and an elected city council in the mid-1970s. It’s a very limited home rule. It’s not like, here, judge for yourselves and we’re just going to get out of this sort of thing. It is: whatever D.C. does can be done by Congress.
Essentially, the Congress is the final check and balance in the local affairs of the county. So any bill that passes D.C. approval goes to Congress, Congress gets a chance to sway it. Congress has the power to tell a district it can’t do certain things by making provisions in the federal budget that state D.C. can’t spend money on. Needle exchange programs. Money cannot be spent to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana. It cannot spend money supporting abortion for low-income women. And those are all the things that Congress has done in DC and is doing in DC.
It’s a very fraught relationship because DC got a chance to run themselves – with adult supervision.
Sean Rameswaram
I think the marijuana example that I quickly cited is one of the most illustrative of them all because I think a lot of people all over this country now have the experience of legalizing marijuana for recreational or medical use at the state level, whereas it’s illegal at the federal level . But the situation in the capital is much murkier. Can you explain it to people who are not familiar with it?
Martin Ostermohl
Back in 2014, D.C. voters approved a ballot initiative that legalized the possession, home cultivation, personal use, and gifting of small amounts of marijuana. So everything but sales.
Sean Rameswaram
This means that if you go to a marijuana dispensary in D.C., you won’t be buying marijuana. You give them $20 for a plate or bracelet and they give you some marijuana with the plate or bracelet as a gift.
Martin Ostermohl
Yeah, it’s very confusing and complicated and totally congressional because after D.C. voters approved this ballot initiative, Congress came back and Congressional Republicans came back and said, well, listen, that’s nice and good, but you don’t do anything when it comes to entertainment sales. So they put in what’s called a budget rider, which is basically a city ban saying you can’t legalize entertainment sales. That was in 2015 and it’s still there today.
So we have this market where there are dozens of stores all over town, you can pay 50 or 60 dollars for a sticker or a cookie and you get a “marijuana gift.” But let’s be honest, we all kind of understand what’s going on: You buy marijuana.
Sean Rameswaram
And of course, there is a very active movement in the District of Columbia to change this status quo.
Martin Ostermohl
It ebbs and flows. There are times when people say, they listen, the final battle is statehood, and that’s where we have to go. Then there are the moments when they say the state will never happen. Let’s go for something else. Let’s try, let’s say, like a full-voting representative in the House of Representatives because now it’s just a non-voting delegate. Nothing particularly moved away.
It was only about eight years ago that the struggle for statehood became a rather major goal, the main goal of city officials. And it has already come relatively far. I mean, the House of Representatives, when it was controlled by the Democrats, voted twice on a bill that would have made D.C. the 51st state. Now, the Senate has never done the same thing because of its filibuster, basically. Thus, the city remained stuck without a state.
But it has made progress in making the issue more of a national issue and tying it to voting rights and saying, listen, if you believe in expanding voting access, expanding voting rights, you should also believe in statehood.
Sean Rameswaram
And when Biden came out last week and said he wouldn’t support this crime bill, he wouldn’t veto it, and his statement was – and I’m reading here – “I support D.C. statehood and home rule, but I don’t support some of the changes the D.C. City Council has put forward over the mayor’s objections, Like lowering penalties for auto theft, which a D.C. bookstore retweeted saying, “Look, folks, I totally support the Rebel Alliance, but the construction of the Death Star must continue on schedule.”How complicated is Biden’s support for the D.C. state through What did he do last week?
Martin Ostermohl
It confused a lot of people because they obviously appreciate that President Biden supports statehood, and he said he supports statehood. And last year, he linked the cause of statehood to his broader fight for voting rights, access to the ballot and so on. But now he is effectively trying not to please anyone, it seems, by saying that I am in favor of statehood and in favor of the right of the province to govern itself, except in this case that I do not really support the right of the province to govern itself. And that’s why I’m not going to get into this fight that Congress is fighting with DC. So yeah, at best it’s confusing. At worst, many people have become very angry.
Sean Rameswaram
What are the biggest obstacles to the capital city achieving its enduring goal of being a country?
Martin Ostermohl
I mean, depends on who you ask. There are people who just say, “It’s a city full of Democrats, which means it’s going to have two senators who’re going to be Democrats, which means it’s going to benefit the Democrats in the Senate.” So there is a very biased angle to that. There are also people who can raise less concerns, things like the capital city is not geographically large enough. And yes, it will be the smallest state in terms of geography, even though it has a population larger than that of Vermont or Wyoming. Some Republican senators have raised concerns, including that there are not enough miners and loggers in the capital.
Martin Ostermohl
You know, there are some constitutional concerns where they say the founders wanted a place for the federal government cut off from the states, where Marylanders and Virginians couldn’t storm the Capitol. Ironically, you know, when January 6th happened, it was D.C. Police officers who helped clear the Capitol. This is despite this notion that the capital must exist in this kind of neutral territory, and so the capital can never be a state because it is then no longer neutral, and so the federal government is in danger of being only at the whims of the province.
Sean Rameswaram
But in the meantime, Biden has said he supports statehood. I think Trump at CPAC this year said the federal government should take over running D.C., and there are 700,000 people stuck in the middle without much right to self-government.
Martin Ostermohl
I don’t know that anyone could have predicted this chain of events to happen exactly the way it did. There was always the assumption that, well, well, this criminal bill is going to go to Hill. Republicans will vote to reject it. But we have a Senate run by Democrats and then it fell. Well Well. We have Biden. It is the ultimate prop. There is no way President Biden, a supporter of the state, wouldn’t veto this. And then President Biden said, No, I’m not going to object to this.
There is some collective anger about the situation the province has always found itself in and continues to find itself in. But there are also some internal signs. Was this a strategic mistake on our part? Was this the wrong time to discuss criminal justice reform and criminal laws? Shouldn’t we just wait until the Democrats at least take back control of the House so we can at least be a prop? So there are a lot of layers to this. It is complicated.
Sean Rameswaram
Meanwhile, we have a joke on our dashboard.
Martin Ostermohl
“End taxation without representation.” I mean, at least you have that. You have a license plate.
Sean Rameswaram
Yes. good. To be fair, I loved her more when she just said “taxes without representation,” it felt kind of self-deprecating. Now it sounds like a hopeless slogan that will never do anything, but…
Martin Ostermohl
But having said that, the region is rolling out a new license plate this year. It will be released soon. He will say, “We demand the establishment of a state.” So …
Sean Rameswaram
amazing!
Martin Ostermohl
I know, there is that.
Sean Rameswaram
The joke is over.
Martin Ostermohl
I mean, it’s not… You don’t get a new criminal code, but you do get a license plate that says, “We demand statehood.” So there you go.
