[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 104 (Tuesday, June 17, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E584-E585]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            OPPOSITION TO H.R. 884, H.R. 2056, AND H.R. 2096

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 17, 2025

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, last week the Republican Majority in the 
House of Representatives decided that they know better than the 
residents of the District of Columbia what their local government 
needs.
  All Members of Congress are sent here by our constituents to 
represent their interests, and to vote on matters of federal 
importance. We aren't sent here to rule on specific local ordinances or 
funding decisions made by the cities and counties in any of our 
districts. Yet Republicans have brought three bills to the floor--H.R. 
884, H.R. 2056, and H.R. 2096--to do exactly that. They want to tell 
the District of Columbia's 700,000 residents that the laws and policies 
they have voted for, and that were crafted by their local elected 
officials, are null and void.
  Mr. Speaker, none of us ran for or were elected to serve as D.C. 
Council members. I've been a city council member. It's a very different 
job, with a direct line of responsibility to the residents who elect 
you to deal with everything from potholes to public safety. That local 
representation and local responsiveness is a key part of our democracy, 
and Republicans are proposing to strip that local self-governance away 
from the residents of the District of Columbia.
  If Republicans want to take steps to address an issue with national 
importance, they can bring forward a bill that enforces it nationally. 
I will not vote for these attempts to decide those issues for a single 
district at the local level, whether in the District of Columbia or in 
the districts of any Member here.
  One of the bills before us last week, H.R. 884, would repeal D.C.'s 
local law that allows

[[Page E585]]

noncitizens to vote in local elections. I have serious concerns with 
allowing noncitizens who do not hold a green card to vote in local 
elections, but this is the wrong way to go about addressing that. I 
voted present because I can't support repealing a local D.C. law, but I 
do support having a conversation about how we define voter eligibility 
nationwide.
  I voted No on H.R. 2096, the Protecting Our Nation's Capital 
Emergency Act, because it would repeal part of a local D.C. law to give 
the police department increased authority to address incidents of 
serious misconduct and discipline officers. I voted No on H.R. 2056 
because we shouldn't be nullifying a local law to tell an individual 
police department where they must divert their resources and how they 
can best serve their community, including residents who are immigrants.
  Mr. Speaker, I respect the will of D.C. residents to shape their 
local government through their local elections, and that is why I do 
not support H.R. 2096, H.R. 2056 or H.R. 884.

                          ____________________