The Senate on Wednesday voted to block new crime laws in the District of Columbia and override the city government as lawmakers in both parties have raised concerns about rising violent crime rates in cities nationwide.

President Biden said last week he will sign the Republican resolution, which passed the Senate 81-14 last month. It would mark the first time in more than three decades that Congress has overturned the state capital’s laws over the censure process and a shift in the long-held Democratic position that the federal government should let DC govern itself.

Biden, who will announce a re-election campaign in the coming months, has come under increasing pressure on the issue from Republicans who have made reducing crime a political priority. In D.C., the city’s homicide rate had risen for four years before dropping about 10% in 2022. The number of homicides in 2021 was the highest since 2003 at 227.

We are the greatest superpower in history, Senate Republican

L

said Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor Wednesday morning. “This is our capital. But local politicians have made the streets a danger and a disgrace.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s non-voting delegate in the House, pushed back the effort, speaking at a hands-off DC meeting ahead of the vote.

There are no exceptions and no middle ground for DC’s right to self-government,” Norton said.

The D.C. Penal Code revision was approved by the City Council late last year after years of failed attempts. It would redefine crimes, change criminal justice policy and rethink how sentences should be handed down after convictions. It would also remove mandatory minimum sentences for many crimes and lower maximum sentences for burglary, carjacking and robbery.

Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the revision in January, writing in a letter that she was deeply concerned about some of the bills. She later proposed changes after the council overrode its veto.

Senate Democrats who support the measure have cited Bowser’s veto, arguing that it should be reconsidered.

What we’ve heard from the DC mayor is that there’s more work to be done, Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow said.

Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark

R

. Warner, both Democrats, said they would vote in favor of the resolution and urge the mayor and city council to work together to create a safer city for everyone, including the many Virginians who commute to D.C. every day for their work.

The Washington, DC Penal Code was originally written in 1901 and has since received a handful of patchy updates. It contains several anachronistic details, such as a reference to steamboats and regulations for the care and feeding of livestock transported through the city.

The changes are expected to come into effect in October 2025. But to become law, it had to survive a 60-day review period during which Congress and the president can override it, thanks to a 1970s law called the Home Rule Act. While Congress has imposed various limits on D.C. through bills over the years, the formal censure process has not been used since 1991.

As it stands, criminal justice experts say DC’s penal code has disproportionately affected black people, as it has in many other cities.

DC Council President Phil Mendelson and other council members, defending the revisions, argue that the reduced sentences for offenses such as carjacking would still put maximum sentences well above those chosen by the vast majority of judges. They argue that the current high maximum sentences have done little in recent years to deter the increasing crime in the neighborhood.

Biden’s surprise decision to support the Republican measure angered many House Democrats, such as Norton, who had voted against the measure in the House after the White House signaled opposition.

At the time, the White House did not explicitly say that Biden would veto the measure. But the statement issued ahead of the House vote said the White House opposed the resolution, calling it an example of how the District of Columbia continues to be denied true self-government and why it deserves statehood.

As we work to make Washington, DC, our Union’s 51st state, Congress must respect the autonomy of the District of Columbia to manage its own local affairs, the White House statement said.

After announcing last week at a Democratic caucus luncheon in the Senate that he would support and sign the resolution instead, Biden tweeted that he supports DC’s status. But he added, I don’t support some of the changes the DC Council has put forward because of the mayor’s objections, such as reducing carjacking fines.

McConnell called Biden’s move a flip-flop.

Public pressure was so great that the president is now saying he wants to sign the same Republican bill he previously announced he opposed, McConnell said.

While many Democrats supported the bill, some were less enthusiastic.

I’m going to vote yes, Majority Leader in the Senate

Chuck Charles E

. Schumer (DN.Y.) told reporters Tuesday. It was a tough question, but on balance I vote yes.