[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 195 (Wednesday, November 19, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1093-E1094]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LETTER LED BY THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS ON
THE COMMON-SENSE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY NOW IN DC ACT OF
2025 (H.R. 5107) AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CASH BAIL REFORM ACT OF
2025 (H.R. 5214)
_____
HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
of the district of columbia
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today the House of Representatives debated
the Common-Sense Law Enforcement and Accountability Now in DC Act of
2025 (H.R. 5107) and the District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of
2025 (H.R 5214). I include in the Record a letter opposing these bills
led by The Leadership Conference on Civil an Human Rights.
The Leadership Conference on
Civil and Human Rights,
Washington, DC, November 19, 2025.
Dear Representative: On behalf of The Leadership Conference
on Civil and Human Rights and the undersigned organizations,
we write to express our strong opposition to H.R. 5107, the
``Common-Sense Law Enforcement and Accountability Now in D.C.
(CLEAN DC) Act of 2025, and to H.R. 5214 the D.C. Cash Bail
Reform Act.
H.R. 5107 would largely overturn the District of Columbia's
Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act
(CPJRAA) of 2022, while H.R. 5214 would require mandatory
pretrial detention and cash bail for an arbitrary overly
broad list of offenses.
These bills are part of a long line of attacks on democracy
in the District of Columbia. D.C. citizens pay federal taxes
and comply with all the other duties of residence, yet they
are deprived of not only any voting representation in
Congress, but also of control over their own local
governance. With these votes, Congress would yet again
micromanage the affairs of the District and relegate the more
than 700,000 residents of D.C. to second-class citizenship--
and without a single vote representing D.C.
D.C. autonomy and D.C. statehood are civil rights and
racial justice issues. D.C. residents deserve the same tight
as residents from any U.S. state to decide the laws that are
best for their communities. It remains painfully clear that
the right to vote is meaningless if the will of D.C.
residents can be overturned by a Congress that gives them no
say in the matter. Congress must listen to Mayor Bowser and
the D.C. Council and reject this attempt to roll back duly
passed D.C. legislation.
Washingtonians are best situated to address police reform
policies in their own community and deserve to determine
these policies without congressional interference. The CPJRAA
includes commonsense reforms to increase police
accountability and government transparency, and it directly
responds to the calls from District communities for
additional law enforcement oversight. Many of the reforms in
this bill echo provisions in the George Floyd Justice in
Policing Act, as well as President Biden's executive orders
on policing--including improving access to body-worn camera
recordings, restricting access to military-grade weapons, and
creating a public discipline database of information related
to sustained allegations of police misconduct. D.C., like
many other jurisdictions, initially passed these reforms in
response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor
and the need to enact systemic police reform. In the wake of
the deployment of the National Guard and surge of federal law
enforcement in D.C., there has been an increase in instances
of police brutality and unwarranted searches. Congress must
not block D.C. from heeding the calls of its residents by
rescinding police oversight law.
Legislation like the CPJRAA is not anti-police, rather it
helps restore public confidence in law enforcement both by
deterring abuses of power and demonstrating that law
enforcement is not above the law. Holding police officers
accountable for violating the law does not lead to an
increase in crime in fact, D.C. saw a 30-year low in violent
crime in 2024, after the CPJRAA was enacted. Between 2010 and
2020, Washington, D.C. paid out more than $91 million in
police misconduct settlements. Yet, according to an audit,
between 2015 and 2021, D.C. was forced to rehire 37
Metropolitan Police Department officers who were fired due to
sustained misconduct allegations, with the city awarding them
more than $14.3 million in back pay. Police oversight is
crucial to preventing and holding officers accountable for
misconduct against the very people they have sworn to
protect.
H.R. 5214 proposes drastic, harmful changes to D.C.'s
pretrial laws, which ensure that pretrial release decisions
are based on assessments of true risk, rather than wealth. It
would impose mandatory pretrial jailing of people who are
simply accused of certain offenses, a change that is flatly
unconstitutional. Its requirement of cash bail for other
offenses would have a devastating impact on
[[Page E1094]]
low-income people who are also simply accused. These changes
would swing the door wide open to abuses, and they would
disproportionately impact people of color.
These bills and other attacks on D.C.'s autonomy are
emblematic of larger efforts to allow state and federal
legislatures to exert control and authority over Black
localities and roll back democratically authorized criminal-
legal and police reforms. We call on you to fight this trend
and vote NO on H.R. 5107 and H.R. 5214. If you have any
questions, please feel free to contact Rob Randhava of The
Leadership Conference or Nicole Zayas Manzano of The Bail
Project.
Sincerely,
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, The
Bail Project, Advancement Project, Black Voters Matter Fund,
Center for Policing Equity (CPE), DC Vote, Human Rights
Campaign, Interfaith Alliance, Juvenile Law Center.
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good
Shepherd, National Council of Churches, National Education
Association, National Organization for Women, NCNW, Pax
Christi USA, Prison Policy Initiative, St. Joseph Justice
Center--A Ministy of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange,
Vera Insitute of Justice.
____________________