Metropolitan Police at a crime scene in Washington, D.C. in February.
Photo:
Kyle Mazza/Zuma Press
Republicans in the new Congress are heading for their first big victory. President Biden said Thursday that he won’t veto a resolution to overturn a District of Columbia law that eases sentences on carjackings, burglaries and other felonies if it passes the Senate.
The House passed the resolution last month, 250-173, with 31 Democrats joining the GOP majority. Senate Democrats have been debating how to handle the resolution, and blocking it became harder when West Virginia’s
Joe Manchin
said he’d vote for it. We were wrong last month when we suggested the resolution would need to overcome a 60-vote filibuster. As a privileged resolution, it needs only a simple majority.
Congress has oversight authority of the district under the U.S. Constitution, though it hasn’t overturned one of its laws in more than 30 years. This one deserves it. Crime has spiked in the district as it has in many big cities, and it defies all common sense to go easier on criminals when they are piling up victims.
Democrats prize “home rule” in the district, which is run by fellow Democrats. But they also want to retain their Senate majority in 2024, when several of their Members from swing states are up for re-election. Mr. Manchin is one of them, as is Montana’s
Jon Tester,
and both also voted to override a Biden Labor Department regulation on politicized pension investing. (See nearby.) Expect more such attempts at political self-protection this Congress.
Crime continues to be a Democratic political vulnerability, thanks to “defund the police” and progressive prosecutors elected with
George Soros
backing. Chicago’s repudiation of incumbent
Lori Lightfoot
in this week’s mayoral primary, in which crime was the dominant issue, reinforced that political message. Mr. Biden doesn’t want to give Republicans an easy opening on crime in 2024.
If he doesn’t veto, Republicans won’t have the election issue next year. But they will have done a great service by making the nation’s capital safer for residents and visitors.
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Appeared in the March 3, 2023, print edition.
