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The House of Representatives passed a pair of bills aimed at cracking down on crime in Washington, D.C., late on Tuesday afternoon, with dozens of Democrats voting against each one.
The first bill advanced through the House was the DC Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act, or the DC CRIMES Act.
It passed the House by a 240-179 vote, with all “no” votes coming from Democrats. Just 31 Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
That legislation, led by Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., would reduce the maximum statutory age of a youth offender from 24 to 18, meaning people in their late teens are eligible to be tried as adults.
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It would also bar judges in most cases from being able to hand down sentences lower than the stated mandatory minimum for juvenile offenders.
House lawmakers also advanced a bill led by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, that would make juvenile offenders as young as 14 eligible to be tried as adults, if accused of certain violent crimes.
That age limit is currently at 16. The bill covers crimes including murder, first-degree sexual abuse, burglary in the first degree, robbery while armed, or assault with intent to commit any such offense, according to a press release on Gill’s website.
The latter bill passed the House by a 225-203 vote. Even fewer Democrats, just eight, voted with Republicans on the measure.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., also voted against the bill.
It comes days after President Donald Trump’s 30-day emergency order federalizing D.C. police expired, with no moves from Congress or the White House to push for an extension.
Trump signaled he could still extend his hold on local law enforcement, though he showed little appetite to do so.
“We have virtually no crime in D.C. right now, and we’re going to keep it that way. It’s our nation’s capital. We’re going to keep it that way or we’re going to federalize it if we have to. But we don’t have to anymore because it’s in such great shape,” the president told reporters on Monday.
Meanwhile, Mayor Muriel Bowser issued an order earlier this month instructing local police to cooperate with several federal law enforcement agencies, though Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was notably excluded from the list.
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Democrats in Congress have responded with fierce opposition to Trump’s crackdown on D.C., including the capital city’s non-voting representative in the House, Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, D-D.C.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., blasted the legislation that passed on Tuesday in comments to Fox News Digital.
“Those aren’t bills that are serious efforts to address public safety in the Washington, D.C., area,” Jeffries said.
But Republicans have positioned them as necessary remedies to what they view as a lax criminal justice system.
“It is clear to members of the Committee and the public that D.C.’s soft-on-crime policies have failed to keep D.C. residents and visitors safe,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said of Donalds’ bill specifically. “Our capital cannot continue to let criminals freely roam the streets and expect this crime crisis to end.”
Congress has wide jurisdiction over D.C.’s policies given its status as a federal city, despite the Home Rule Act of 1973 also granting the city the ability to have its own local government.
Bowser, a Democrat, had previously acknowledged that crime in D.C. had gone down since the Trump administration’s involvement.
She is scheduled to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee on Thursday.
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