Senate Democrats’ support swells for GOP-led DC crime resolution

At least four Senate Democrats announced on Monday they will follow President Biden’s lead and back a Republican-led resolution of disapproval of the District of Columbia’s crime bill that would lower penalties for violent crime ahead of an expected Wednesday vote.

Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), along with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), all revealed that they will support a resolution to overturn the District’s bill. 

The move comes after Biden told the Senate Democratic caucus late last week that he will side with Republicans on the measure, specifically citing the lessening of sentences for crimes such as carjackings that have become more regular occurrences across the District. 

“The bill is not ready for prime time,” Kaine told reporters on Monday, adding that he plans to encourage Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and the D.C. City Council that unanimously passed the measure to “get on the same page.”

Bowser vetoed the bill in early February, citing the updated violent crime penalties included among other items. The council overwhelmingly overrode the veto. 

Tester, who is up for reelection in 2024 and is a top target on the map for Republicans, told reporters that he would “voting with the president” on the measure. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who is considered the other prime GOP target, announced early last week that he would be voting to overturn the D.C. crime bill. 

Hickenlooper told reporters that he is voting against bill in part because of the altered violent crime penalties. 

“There are certain crimes that we shouldn’t be softening,” Hickenlooper said, adding that he would have voted to nix the bill even if Biden hadn’t said anything last week. 

Other senators had reasons outside of the violent crimes portion of the bill to vote against it. King told The Hill that he was opposed in part because of the provision that allows for more jury trials for misdemeanor offenses. 

“There’s not enough jurors in the world to do that. There’s an infrastructure problem,” King said. “The mayor had reservations. The police have reservations, and I want to see them rework it.” 

Earlier on Monday, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) attempted to withdraw the criminal code bill before it could come up for the midweek vote. However, a Senate leadership aide said that the Home Rule Act governing the District does not allow for the withdrawal of legislation and that the vote will go on as planned. 

“At this point the Senate Republican privileged motion will be acting on the House disapproval resolution, rather than the D.C. Council’s transmission to the Senate,” the aide said. “We still expect the vote to occur.”

There are still some Senate Democrats who continue to back the District’s ability to govern itself: Sens. Ben Cardin (Md.) and Chris Murphy (Conn.) both told reporters they will vote against the resolution. 

In addition to support for home rule, Murphy told The Hill that specifics of the criminal code update have been “greatly overhyped” and noted that the carjacking penalty in the bill in question is higher than it is in his home state.

The vote will take place roughly a month after the House advanced the resolution. Thirty-one House Democrats voted with every Republican to block the bill, while 173 Democrats voted against it. 

Alexander Bolton contributed.