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

Despite efforts by the chairman of the district council to withdraw the bill, the Senate plans to vote on the Washington, D.C. criminal code.

“Not only is the statute incompatible with withdrawing a transmission, but at that point, the Senate Republican privileged motion (rather than the DC Council’s transmission of the Senate) will be used by the Senate to act on the House disapproval resolution,” a Senate leadership aide stated in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “We expect that the vote will still occur.”

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson stated that the council would view the vote only as symbolic in response to the Senate’s decision.

“The Senate Republicans might insist that they are voting on the House referral. However, the bill is not properly before the Senate as it must be submitted to both houses under the law. “We view this as nothing but a symbolic vote,” Mendelson stated in a statement to The Washington Examiner.

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Mendelson said Monday that he had sent Kamala Harris a letter rescinding the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 crime bill.

On Monday, he admitted that there was no precedent in D.C. Council resigning from Congress. However, he said that nothing in the Home Rule Act prevented him from doing this.

Mendelson stated to reporters, “The Home Rule Act clearly states that I transmit and there is no prohibition on me pulling it back.” “This law won’t go into effect because it has been retracted.”

In February, the House voted to repeal the bill which reduces penalties for certain crimes such as homicides and robberies. The bill was sent to the Senate where it was likely to be overturned.

Biden stated last week that if Congress votes to repeal the district’s criminal law, he would sign it. This decision was likely to be influenced by the pressure from both the president of Democrats to combat crime. It will be his first veto as president if he doesn’t.