Senate votes to repeal Washington, DC soft-on-crime police reform bill

The Senate voted Tuesday to nullify a soft-on-crime bill introduced by Washington, DC, council members that would have changed rules governing use of force and officer misconduct — the second time in recent weeks Congress has overridden district lawmakers on public safety legislation.

The upper chamber voted 56-43 to repeal the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022, which the DC Council passed in December.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Jacky Rosen of Nevada all voted for the repeal, along with independents Angus King of Maine and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Manchin, Tester, Rosen, King and Sinema are up for re-election in 2024.

The White House said in April that President Biden would veto the bill if it reached his desk.

“While President Biden does not support every provision of the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022, he will not support congressional Republicans’ efforts to overturn commonsense police reforms such as: 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,” an April 17 statement of administration policy promised.

The bill would have removed DC cops from use of force and disciplinary review boards that investigate police misconduct — and disclosed those records about officers in a public database.

The requirement to bring disciplinary charges against cops within 90 days of a complaint being filed would have been dropped.

The act would also ban officers from using some chokeholds and mandate the release of body-cam footage from all officer-involved shootings, though the Metropolitan Police Department routinely distributes such information already.

D.C. Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton said in March that the bill was “dangerous” because it “destroys collective bargaining rights of MPD police officers, eviscerates due process, reduces less-lethal options for law enforcement during a riot, and further contributes to the critical staffing crisis that is plaguing the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) today.”

The House passed the bill 229-189 in April, with fourteen Democrats joined Republicans in support.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) introduced the measure in March days after the Senate blocked another controversial DC crime bill that would have lowered some penalties for violent crimes such as carjackings and armed robberies.

Thirty-three Democratic senators joined with Republicans to defeat the legislation after President Biden announced he would enact it.

“I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule — but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections – such as lowering penalties for carjackings,” he said in a tweet. “If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did — I’ll sign it.”

The overturn of the two crime bills marks the only instances in 30 years that Congress has repealed DC laws.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) introduced the Senate version of the bill last week and pushed it to a floor vote Tuesday.

“Today’s vote is a victory for the safety and security of every American who visits our nation’s capital,” he said in a statement after the vote. “It is also a strong statement in support of the hardworking men and women of DC’s Metropolitan Police Department. With this vote, Congress has sent President Biden a clear and bipartisan message: the American people have rejected the radical left and they want to see law and order in Washington.”

DC Police Chief Robert J. Contee III announced last month that the size of his force has reached a half-century low, with just 3,350 officers sworn in this year.

In a hearing earlier on Tuesday, Contee and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser faced questions from Republicans on the House Oversight Committee about their efforts to push back against the DC Council on the pair of criminal justice bills.