Senate plows forward with vote on crime bill despite DC Council backpedal

The Senate remains to be planning to vote on the Washington, D.C., prison code regardless of efforts from the district council chairman to withdraw the invoice to stop its overhaul.

“Not solely does the statute not enable for a withdrawal of a transmission, however at this level the Senate Republican privileged movement will likely be appearing on the Home disapproval decision, slightly than the DC Council’s transmission to the Senate,” a Senate management aide stated in an announcement supplied to the Washington Examiner. “We nonetheless anticipate the vote to happen.”

DC COUNCIL CHAIRMAN WITHDRAWS CRIMINAL CODE BILL TO STALL VOTE

In response to the Senate’s determination to push ahead, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson stated the council will view the vote as nothing aside from “symbolic.”

“The Senate Republicans might insist they’re voting on the Home referral, however the invoice is not correctly earlier than the Senate, because the legislation requires or not it’s submitted to each homes. We view this as nothing greater than a symbolic vote,” Mendelson stated in an announcement to the Washington Examiner.

Mendelson introduced on Monday that he despatched a letter to Vice President Kamala Harris withdrawing the crime invoice, known as the Revised Felony Code Act of 2022.

He had admitted earlier on Monday that there was no precedent involving the D.C. Council withdrawing a invoice from Congress however stated there was nothing within the House Rule Act that prevented him from doing so.

“The House Rule Act may be very clear that I transmit, and there’s not a prohibition on my pulling it again,” Mendelson stated to reporters. “This legislation won’t go into impact as a result of I’ve pulled it again.”

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GOP efforts to overturn the invoice, which lessens penalties for sure crimes, together with robberies and homicides, proved profitable within the Home in early February. The invoice was then despatched to the Senate, the place it was anticipated to be overturned, as nicely.

Biden introduced final week that if Congress voted to overturn the district’s prison code, he would signal it — a choice doubtless influenced by stress on each the president and Democrats to deal with crime. If he doesn’t, will probably be the primary veto of his presidency.