Congress Reversing D.C.’s Crime Package Is The Ultimate Argument Against D.C. Statehood

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to reverse a controversial crime bill passed by Washington, D.C. City Council. Since the District of Columbia is not a state and is instead overseen directly by the federal government, Congress has the power under the constitution to do things like this.

From Fox News:

The Senate voted 81-14 on Wednesday to block the Washington, D.C. city council’s dramatic overhaul of its criminal code that Republicans and many Democrats complained would ease criminal penalties in a city that is already suffering from rising crime rates.

In the final vote, only 14 Democrats voted against the resolution aimed at reversing the D.C. law, which was originally the product of the House’s new Republican majority. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and most other Democrats voted to kill the D.C. crime law.

Once the resolution is signed by the president, as is expected, it will mark the first time Congress has acted to roll back DC’s own self-imposed regulations in more than 30 years, a power Congress has under the Constitution.

The legislation has already passed the House and over there only 31 Democrats supported the bill. Back when the legislation was being considered in the House, President Joe Biden opposed the resolution. He has since changed his mind.

The swing district House Democrats are angry at Biden for leaving them out to dry. They believed that Biden would stick to his guns on the issue and give them political cover. Instead, Biden pulled the rug out from under them and is allowing their Republican opponents to portray them as soft on crime.

The reason why this vote is such a hard vote is that the party is overwhelmingly for statehood for the District of Columbia. The reason why is obvious, it would easily be the most Democratic state in the country. It would be a guaranteed two Senators for Democrats.

Forget that statehood for the District of Columbia is unconstitutional without a constitutional amendment for a moment. Granting statehood to the District of Columbia would be a terrible idea for many reasons. The fact that Congress had to block D.C. from implementing a bill to reduce jail sentences for various crimes during a time of high and rising crime rates should give pause to whether or not D.C. is even capable of self-government in the first place.

The new D.C. state would likely be home to every bad policy idea the left has proposed. Recently, the District of Columbia has enacted laws that would allow illegal immigrants the right to vote in District elections. Instead of allowing the District of Columbia to become a state, we need to have a real discussion about ending D.C. Home Rule.

Polls show that the American people are lukewarm, at best, about D.C. statehood. The bulk of the support for D.C. statehood is from Democrats while Republicans are strongly opposed. Independents have split down the middle with a narrow lead for “undecided.”