Disapproving the Action of the District of Columbia Council in Approving the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, I rise today in support of H.J. Res. 26, a resolution to overturn the recent law passed by the DC Council to revise the city's Criminal Code.

I was pleased to join Senator Hagerty as an original cosponsor of the Senate's version he introduced in February.

The Nation's Capital is a unique American city in that it was established through the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in order to host the Federal system of government established by our Founders, separate from the authority of any one single State. Founded in 1790, the city has grown immensely since its earliest years and, with a population of nearly 700,000, has become one of the largest cities in the region.

In addition to the residents of this city and those who commute daily from neighboring Maryland and Virginia, Washington, DC, hosts nearly 20 million visitors on an annual basis--one of the most visited cities in the United States--as Americans from all 50 States, including my home of Kansas, come to the seat of their government to meet with their elected officials and visit the National Mall, memorials, and museums their tax dollars go to maintaining every year.

Sadly, as the Capital City has expanded, so, too, has the influence of the far-left politicians who serve as members of the council. Similar to their Democratic counterparts in the White House, Congress, and other U.S. metro areas, the DC Council has gone full tilt in giving the keys of this city to its criminals and vagrants and in failing in their duty to protect its inhabitants and visitors.

This culture of lawlessness--the same that is on display at our southern border, where just yesterday we learned that two of the four Americans kidnapped by the Gulf Cartel were brutally murdered--is a product of cashless bail laws and efforts to defund the police.

In DC, these efforts have come in the form of major cuts to the city's police department. In 2020, the council implemented a $15 million cut to their own police force--$15 million. Since then, the number of sworn officers has decreased steadily year over year, and, predictably, crime has been running rampant ever since. In 2021, more than 200 homicides were committed. It was the first time homicides surpassed 200 since 2003. In 2022, DC topped its mark again, and the trend is continuing in 2023. Crime is up 25 percent from this time last year; murders are up 33 percent; sexual abuse crimes are up 120 percent; and motor vehicle thefts are up 108 percent.

Shockingly, despite these staggering numbers, the DC Council, over the objections of the city's police chief and chief prosecutor, moved in November of last year to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences and reduce maximum penalties for these very crimes.

Thankfully, the same Constitution that established the Capital City gave Congress authority over the District, and while I am a strong supporter of local control, Republicans in Congress have taken an important stand to not stand by and watch as the radical DC Council further inflames the crimewave engulfing our constituents' Capital City.

I myself am afraid for my own wife to walk from our apartment to the Capitol. I am afraid for my own staff to walk from working here to their own homes. This last Christmas, I gave every woman on my staff a special device to be able to defend herself should she be attacked. This is real. We see it every day in this city. We see the crime everywhere we go. This city is no longer safe. This city no longer belongs to the people. This city now belongs to the criminals.

I know the Democrats in the House did not get the memo from the President in time that he would sign our legislation into law--that of overturning the DC Council's overhaul--but I am glad our colleagues across the aisle here in the Senate will be joining him in passing this important bill in order to blunt the crime victimizing the residents and visitors of this city and the efforts of the DC Council to return the District of Columbia back to being the murder capital of America.

Unfortunately, we know this is just a politically motivated move to protect their electoral chances in 2024. Lawlessness runs deep in the Democratic Party, and no matter how they vote today, much more must be done to turn back the harm they have done to our inner cities and at our southern border.

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