WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday is poised to pass a resolution blocking a District of Columbia police accountability package that bans practices like chokeholds and includes greater public access to officer disciplinary records and body camera footage.
The vote comes on the heels of another clash over policing between leaders in Washington, D.C., and the federal lawmakers who oversee the nation’s capital as House Republicans focus on crime in cities run by Democrats, which they see as a winning election issue.
Just a month ago, the House passed a resolution that overturned a Washington, D.C., law lowering penalties for certain crimes and that GOP critics painted as “soft on crime.”
Democrats believed that President Joe Biden would veto that GOP resolution. But wary of being labeled weak on crime, the president stunned and angered Democrats by announcing he would sign it, despite his support for Washington, D.C., statehood and home rule.
The issue deeply divided the party, and a majority of Senate Democrats — 33 of them — joined with all Republicans in voting to overturn the Washington, D.C., crime legislation.
Now, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Republicans are hoping to put vulnerable Democrats in a tough bind once again on crime. A handful of Democrats are expected to vote for the GOP-led resolution Wednesday.
Biden has made clear this time that he will veto the new GOP resolution should it reach his desk. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that the Washington, D.C., legislation included some “reasonable reforms” and predicted that Democrats would hold the line against the GOP resolution, authored by Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus.
“I expect we’ll be able to block it,” Schumer told reporters.
Washington, D.C.’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act — a response to nationwide police brutality protests after George Floyd’s murder in 2020 — includes a number of police accountability measures.
The White House said in a statement that Biden does not support every provision in the bill but that it includes “commonsense police reforms” like “banning chokeholds; limiting use of force and deadly force; improving access to body-worn camera recordings; and requiring officer training on de-escalation and use of force.”
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