Bipartisan Senators Block Radical DC Crime Law, Force Biden to Walk Back Radical Anti-Law Enforcement Agenda

Press Releases · Mar 8, 2023

WASHINGTON – Heritage Action, a grassroots organization with two million grassroots activists released a statement from Executive Director Jessica Anderson following the Senate passage of a resolution disapproving of D.C. City Council’s radical changes to weaken the local criminal code.

President Biden’s ‘Defund the Police’ rhetoric and the Left’s soft-on-crime approach have created a historic crime crisis in the United States. Every day, cities across the country see new reports of violent assaults, carjackings, thefts, and murders. In the nation’s capital, rather than addressing the city’s 40% increase in homicides over the last year, the D.C. City Council attempted to significantly weaken the criminal code and further jeopardize public safety. Today’s vote was a bipartisan disapproval of the city council’s radical changes to the criminal code and proves the American people want to see their leaders embrace public safety and enforce the rule of law.

President Biden’s announcement to sign the resolution is clearly about his 2024 political interests, not about taking responsibility for the crime crisis he and his party have unleashed on American families and businesses. If he is serious about public safety, he must do the hard work of denouncing the Left’s radical tone on crime and restoring a pro-law enforcement approach to the issue. Similarly, Congressional Democrats who voted to protect the city they work in should vow to do the same for every other American.

Heritage Action thanks the House and Senate for passing this resolution, but blocking the D.C. City Council from their radical overhaul of the criminal justice system is only one piece of solving the nation’s crime crisis. From the federal level to the state and local levels, elected officials must commit to protecting communities and holding woke politicians accountable.