The Council of the District of Columbia so far renamed two bills, according to the Washington Post.

The previously named Reparations Foundation Fund and Task Force Establishment Act, which would create a study group focused on reparations to the Insurance Database Amendment Act, and the Advancing the Range of Reproductive Options for Washingtonians Amendment Act, which would require insurance companies to cover vasectomy procedures and related services, was changed to the Insurance Regulation Amendment Act.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, a Democrat, as well as two other city officials, told the outlet the changes are part of a strategic effort across the city’s government to adopt a more neutral stance on some sensitive matters in hopes of avoiding Republican backlash.

“I am not afraid of President Trump. I would like to have the Council working with him, the government working with him,” Mendelson said. “I want to be more careful about ensuring that what we are talking about is focused on issues.”

Mendelson said some of the naming approach is from a standoff that happened last year between the city council and Congress over a revision to D.C.’s criminal code. The House and Senate voted in favor of overturning local, D.C. legislation for the first time in more than 30 years. 

The political fight was encompassed by a series of testy hearings with congressional Republicans, using the state of crime in D.C. to portray nationwide Democrats as being soft on crime.

Mendelson said, “The Council lost control of the messaging on that issue.

“Lesson learned,” he said. “We need to be sensitive to messaging.”

Before the election, the reparations bill from Councilman Kenyan McDuffie, which was co-introduced by nine other lawmakers, appeared likely to pass easily through the council until it became the subject of conversations.

Mendelson said he had been part of discussions “where folks have talked about whether the idea of reparations is controversial.” 

​​By Nov. 18, according to a committee report, the name of the legislation had changed. McDuffie has focused on reparations while in office, telling the outlet the council would somewhat regularly edit the names of bills and the new names “were chosen in consultation with my colleagues to more accurately reflect the purpose of the measures.”

“It is important to recognize the ever-changing political landscape and understand when to pick a fight and when to be strategic and not pick a fight,” McDuffie said. “It’s a very delicate balance, one which the council must be cognizant of.”

Councilman Robert White Jr. had planned to push a bill that would expand the size of the D.C. Council but told the Washington Post he was pausing his effort out of fear that a “slow news day” might make the expansion of D.C.’s local government a centerpiece of talks and shut it down.

“The District has to be strategic to not throw red meat in front of Republicans when they control the House, the Senate, and the White House,” he said.

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Since leaving office in 2021, President-elect Donald Trump has maintained a distaste for D.C. and its governance. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly vowed to “take over” the city and bypass the local government in doing so. 

“We will take over the horribly run capital of our nation in Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it, and rebuild our capital city so there is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime,” Trump said in July. “But, rather, it will become the most beautiful capital anywhere in the world. Right now, if you leave Florida – let’s go, darling. Let’s look at the Jefferson Memorial, let’s look at the Washington Monument. Let’s go and look at some of the beautiful scenes, and you end up getting shot, mugged, raped.”