[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 7, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Crime

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 1 month ago, the Biden administration 
published an official statement opposing Republicans' bill to block a 
disastrous new soft-on-crime law right here in our Nation's Capital. 
The administration was on the record against it.
  Then the overwhelming majority of House Democrats voted against our 
commonsense resolution when it passed the House. The proposition behind 
our bill is simple. It goes like this: The answer to skyrocketing 
violent crime in the District of Columbia is not--not--to reduce 
criminal penalties even further. On what planet should this even need 
to be said in the first place?
  The murder rate in Washington is 34 percent higher today than it was 
at this time last year. Auto thefts are up 110 percent right here in 
the Nation's Capital. Longtime DC residents are locking their car doors 
at every red light. Tourists visiting their own capital are worried 
about walking the streets.
  Just yesterday, the chief of the Metropolitan Police lamented that 
the average homicide suspect that his department encounters has already 
been arrested--listen to this--11 times before, 11 times.
  Here is what the police chief said:

       What we've got to do--if we really want to see homicides go 
     down--is keep bad guys with guns in jail. Because when 
     they're in jail, they can't be in communities shooting 
     people.

  That is the police chief here in the Nation's Capital.
  But the radical politicians who run the city tried to do exactly the 
opposite. The liberal city council cooked up a soft-on-crime overhaul 
of the Criminal Code that would have made it even easier for repeat 
offenders to get back out on the streets. It would have brought the 
mandatory minimum sentences for crimes like robbery and carjacking down 
even lower than they already are. And it would have gummed up an 
already backlogged and dysfunctional criminal justice system by 
massively expanding jury trials--listen to this--for misdemeanors. It 
is like these local Democrats have never met a single criminal they 
actually want locked up behind bars. It is truly remarkable.
  This is exactly why our laws give Congress the final say--the final 
say--over how our Nation's Capital is governed because we can't have 
the craziness and dysfunction of a few local politicians jeopardizing 
the basic public safety in the Federal district that houses our 
national government. So Republicans wrote a resolution to overturn this 
nonsense.
  But bear in mind, this limited resolution would not even toughen 
criminal penalties. At this point, we are talking about keeping things 
where they are and stopping even further--even further--backsliding.
  The first step is to use this legal tool to stop the unhinged local 
politicians from making the totally unacceptable status quo even worse. 
But even so, this is a bridge too far for the vast majority of 
Washington Democrats.
  Just a month ago, the White House issued an official statement 
opposing House Republicans' commonsense resolution saying:

       Congress should respect the District of Columbia's 
     [authority] to govern its own local affairs.

  And listen to this: 82 percent of House Democrats fell in line behind 
the Biden administration and voted no. But then something amazing 
happened.
  I think somebody at the White House may have shown the President his 
latest poll numbers on this issue--fewer than one in three Americans 
approve of the way he is handling crime--because Washington Democrats 
started panicking and reversed themselves on a dime. The President came 
here last week, pulled a 180, and told our Democratic colleagues he 
won't veto the resolution after all.
  Now there appears to be a different kind of jailbreak brewing right 
here in the Senate, and a number of Democrats may jump ship at the 
eleventh hour, trying to act like they have been tough on crime all 
along. But our colleagues will not be getting off the hook that easily.
  It is not an act of heroic political courage for Democrats to help 
Congress do our basic minimum job and stop the DC Council from making 
an unacceptable status quo even worse, and none of our colleagues get 
to erase their entire records with this one vote.
  Remember, just last summer, every single Senate Democrat went on 
record against a proposal to redirect a portion of their massive 
taxing-and-spending spree to fight surging crime.
  Let the record reflect what actually gets Washington Democrats' 
attention and what does not. It did not get their attention when rates 
of violent crime in America's major cities were accelerating this time 
last year. It did not get their attention that compared to prepandemic 
levels, homicide nationwide are up 34 percent. It hadn't gotten 
Democrats' attention when the streets of our own Federal district are 
where repeated offenders are driving spikes in carjackings and murder.
  But now that even the mainstream media are beginning to hold them to 
account for their negligence, now Washington Democrats are finally 
trying to change their tune. Innocent citizens getting shot in our 
streets didn't do it, but when Democrats take political shots in the 
press, that finally gets their attention.
  So, look, we will welcome any of our Democratic colleagues who can 
recognize basic sanity and want to be on the winning side for our 
Republican resolution later this week, but local, State, and national 
Democratic Party officials will not be getting off the hot seat as 
quickly or as easily as they have got convicted felons getting back on 
the streets.
  Washington, DC is only 0.2 percent of our Nation's population. What 
about New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Philadelphia, even 
Louisville? Don't these citizens deserve some sanity as well? Don't the 
families and children and elderly people and young women of these 
communities deserve to walk their streets with safety and security too?
  We cannot only have public safety in this country in exceptional 
cases when a Republican House and a narrowly divided Senate can force 
Democrats to do the right thing against their will.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.