WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress are planning a major overhaul of local policies in Washington, D.C., taking one step further after President Donald Trump seized federal control over the city last month.
The House Oversight Committee is set to unveil 14 bills that could be considered as early as next week that would seize control of the city’s criminal justice system, according to the Washington Post. One of those bills is likely to be the one led by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, which seeks to repeal local laws that restrict how officers can respond to high-pressure situations and make it easier for those officers to be punished.
“For too long, Congress has failed to keep D.C. safe and allowed corrupt local officials to prioritize politics over people’s lives,” said Lee. “The CLEAN D.C. Act is a step in the right direction as Congress reasserts its constitutional duty to safeguard D.C.”
The CLEAN D.C. Act would undo the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment that was passed by the D.C. Council in 2022. The law was passed to make permanent several temporary policies that were enacted after the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a Minnesota police officer in 2020 that set off a national series of racial justice protests.
The law adopted new restrictions for officers such as prohibiting chokeholds and neck restraints; mandated the public release of names and body-camera footage of officers involved in serious use-of-force incidents; and made disciplinary records accessible under the D.C. Freedom of Information Act, among other things.
Republicans such as Lee argued those restrictions demoralize officers and worsen the law enforcement staffing crisis all the while emboldening criminals.
Another bill set for consideration, according to The Washington Post, is a proposal to abolish the office of the D.C.-elected attorney general and instead place the criminal justice system under the purview of the president. Specifically, the president would have control over how the city responds to juvenile crime, which President Donald Trump has been vocal about in recent weeks.
“Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social last month. “The Law in DC must be changed to prosecute these ‘minors’ as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14.”
Another measure would accomplish just that by lowering the age for juveniles to be tried as adults, placing that age at 14 for certain violent crimes. Other proposals would focus on adding new minimum sentences to the city’s criminal code and extending some existing minimum sentences for crimes such as murder and carjacking, according to the outlet.
The House Oversight Committee is expected to make more information on the bills public on Friday, a source familiar with the matter told the Deseret News.
The package comes as Trump has pressed Congress to craft a larger bill focused on crime prevention in the nation’s capital as well as $2 billion to go toward “beautifying” the city. Plans for the latter have not yet been fleshed out, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Thursday he wasn’t “sure of the current status” and that he’s “waiting for the details on the request.”
Trump announced on Aug. 11 he would send at least 800 National Guard soldiers to the nation’s capital to crack down on what he described as “out of control” crime, particularly attacks committed by teenagers. That order was set to expire next week but ABC News reported on Thursday that the D.C. National Guard had its order extended through the end of November.