GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill for US Gov't to Take Over Democrat-Run City After Rising Crime Rates
There’s a fascinating tug-of-war brewing in the nation’s capital and it’s all about the nation’s capital, itself.
It’s no secret that Democrats have been, for years now, trying to make Washington, D.C., a state. Many Republicans oppose and criticize this because they feel that D.C. would just become another deep blue haven for Democrats, like California or New York.
For a while now, Republicans had mostly just opposed these sorts of efforts and done little else.
Now, it appears they’re going on the offensive.
According to the Washington Examiner, Rep. Andy Ogles introduced a bill on Friday that would actually give D.C. less autonomy.
The freshman Republican representative from Tennessee cited the rising crime rates in the nation’s capital as the chief impetus for his legislation.
The bill would repeal the D.C. Home Rule Act, and shift authority of the district to Congress.
Established in 1973, the Home Rule Act effectively created a local government (the district voted on a mayor and 13-member city council in 1974) to act in the district’s best interests.
Repealing that 50-year precedent would give more power back to Congress — not that it didn’t have any. As it currently stands, Congress still has the ultimate say and can override the city council’s decisions.
Ogles, who is filing this as the Seat of Government Act, has backing from fellow Republican Reps. Byron Donalds and Matt Rosendale.
“In the first 5 days of August, DC saw 13 homicides. The Nation’s capital has been overrun with violent crime, drugs, theft, homelessness, and riots,” Ogles said in a statement, per the Examiner. “The Constitution places the authority and responsibility of DC administration with the Congress — not with a DC Mayor or a DC City Council.
“Congress needs to reclaim its Constitutional authority and make our Nation’s capital safe again, which is why I’m introducing the Seat of Government Act to repeal the DC Home Rule Act.”
By the district’s own statistics, crime has risen across the board in D.C.
It’s up 30 percent overall according to year-to-date data as recent as Friday.
That includes a 37 percent jump in violent crime and a 29 percent jump in property crime.
Arson saw the biggest growth of all the crimes, with a whopping 300 percent jump (in fairness, it went from two to eight.)
Of the more common crimes, the biggest percentage jumps came in motor vehicle theft (2,086 in 2022 to 4,475 in 2023, a 115 percent jump) and robbery (1,313 in 2022 to 2,106 in 2023, a 60 percent jump.)
The most frequent crime is theft categorized under “other,” and that saw a 24 percent jump, with 6,191 in 2022, to 7,698 in 2023.
Homicide and sex abuse increased by 25 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
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