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

Floor Speech

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Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I rise to express my support also for the resolution of disapproval of the new soft-on-crime law approved by the District of Columbia City Council. The resolution represents my chance to say: Enough is enough.

Today, Americans feel increasingly unsafe. It is not hard to understand why, since it has become impossible to disregard or dismiss the unraveling of law and order across the country over the past few years.

Whether it is the lack of law enforcement on the border, anti-police rhetoric, or weakened punishments for the violent crimes, Americans know the shift away from law and order, right and wrong, is tearing all the fabric of their communities. Crime is at a 25-year high across the entire country.

Unfortunately, my home State of Mississippi is not immune from this trend. Our capital, Jackson, has recorded more than 100 homicides for 3 consecutive years.

It is the same song, different verse in our Nation's very own Capital, where overall crime is up 25 percent since last year. In fact, Washington, DC's murder rate is 34 percent higher today than this time last year. Auto thefts are up 110 percent in this city.

What has the response been from the Democratic leadership? Well, it certainly has not made public safety a priority. There is a good reason the Senate is considering a resolution of disapproval against the DC Council's Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022. With DC's growing record of lawlessness, the city council voted to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences and reduce penalties for crimes like robbery, carjacking, home invasion, burglary, and more. These are violent crimes that leave victims traumatized, injured, or worse--dead.

So why is the instinct to protect the criminal--to signal that the penalties for violating the law are being eased?

This law will put residents, constituents, tourists, Federal workers, and elected officials directly in harm's way. Rather than holding them accountable for their own actions, the DC Council would prefer to let these violent criminals go back to the streets and commit the same violent crimes. Is it any wonder Washington, DC, has a police recruitment and retention problem?

At the same time, those responsible for enforcing our justice system seem more interested in carrying out ``justice'' based on politics. The Biden administration's Justice Department, for example, appears to be laser-focused on parents at local school board meetings, pro-life Americans exercising their right to protest, and spying on Catholic Americans, while taking a nothing-to-see-here approach to threats of violence against sitting Justices at the Supreme Court or attacks on pregnancy centers. If things continue this way, Americans will start to wonder if their safety and protection is determined by their political affiliation.

Mr. President, public safety should not be a political issue. It is not virtue signaling to lessen punishments for violent criminals; it is just dangerous. It is not progressive to pretend the breakdown in border security and subsequent flood of fentanyl aren't contributing to the surges in the crime and death; it is nonsensical.

Americans who live in the greatest Nation in the world at the very least deserve to feel safe. We deserve to live in a country of law and order. Yes, it is time to say ``enough is enough'' to the radical policies embraced by the Democratic Party that have only resulted in more crime, more fear and more tragedies.

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