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The House on Tuesday approved two Republican-led bills to override Washington, D.C.’s local criminal justice system, advancing measures that would lower the age at which offenders can be charged as adults and restrict the District’s juvenile sentencing policies.
The votes came as part of a broader GOP push to paint the nation’s capital as unsafe and to pressure local leaders, with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., tying the effort directly to the daily experiences of residents and even lawmakers.
“We all know somebody who’s been carjacked or had a wallet stolen at gunpoint or was mugged,” Johnson said at a Republican leadership news conference. “It’s happened to members of Congress in our nation’s capital, and we have to stop it.”
Details of the legislation
The first bill, sponsored by Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., amends a D.C. law that allows offenders to be charged as minors through the age of 24. The measure would cap the maximum age at 18 and require the D.C. attorney general to maintain a public online database of juvenile crime statistics. It passed 240-179, with 31 Democrats voting in favor.
The second bill, introduced by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, lowers the age at which minors can be tried as adults in D.C. to 14 for certain crimes. That measure passed 225-203, with support from eight Democrats.
Both bills now move to the Senate, where Republicans would need seven Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster.
Clash over home rule
Democrats framed the votes as yet another attempt by Republicans to undermine the District’s right to self-govern under the 1973 Home Rule Act.
“Let’s not sit here in Congress and pretend to be a super-city council, imposing our pet policies on residents who reject this agenda,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., echoed the point, saying, “We’re not elected by the people of D.C. We ought to defer to and respect the judgment of the local elected officials.”
But House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., countered that intervention was necessary. “Our capital cannot continue to let criminals freely roam the streets and expect this crime crisis to end,” Comer said.
Political backdrop
The legislation arrives as violent crime in Washington has declined since 2023, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Still, Republicans have seized on the issue, especially after President Donald Trump invoked emergency powers in August to federalize the MPD for 30 days and deploy National Guard troops across the city.
Earlier this Congress, House Republicans advanced other bills targeting D.C. laws on policing, immigration and noncitizen voting. And in 2023, bipartisan majorities voted to block a local revamp of the city’s criminal code, a measure later signed by President Joe Biden.
The Oversight Committee has scheduled a hearing Thursday with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chair Phil Mendelson and Attorney General Brian Schwalb. Lawmakers are also expected to consider two more bills this week — one eliminating the commission that nominates local judges and another granting police greater authority to pursue fleeing suspects.
The outcome in the Senate remains uncertain, but Tuesday’s votes highlighted the unusual dynamic in which both parties, for different reasons, have at times joined forces to restrict D.C.’s autonomy.
