House votes to undo D.C. police reforms, cashless bail
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The House approved overturning several D.C. police reforms on Wednesday and a measure that would end cashless bail, following President Trump's wishes.
Why it matters: Congress is back to acting like a super city council over D.C.
Driving the news: Some Democrats joined Republicans in support.
- Virginia Rep. Eugene Vindman, who represents a district including Fredericksburg, was the only Democratic lawmaker from the DMV area to vote in favor of the GOP bills.
Context: The GOP bills have a slimmer chance in the Senate, where it would need Democratic support to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
State of play: The bill to end cashless bail comes after President Trump's August executive order that threatened to cut federal funds if the city didn't change its policy.
- At the time, Trump had taken temporary control of the Metropolitan Police Department, part of his crackdown on crime in the District.
- D.C. instituted cashless bail in the 1990s, allowing a judge to decide whether a defendant should be released pending trial.
The other House bill would reverse some policies enacted after the police killing of George Floyd.
- It would overturn stringent restrictions on officers putting their hands around a suspect's neck. It would also allow officers to access body camera footage before writing a police report.
- The MPD police union is backing the changes.
Between the lines: The votes forced some Democratic Congress members to either take a hard-on-crime stand or side in defense of self governance for the District.
What they're saying: D.C.'s top three leaders — who rarely speak in one voice — called the House's maneuvering "unprecedented federal overreach."
- "These bills are an affront to Home Rule and the principles of democracy and local self-governance on which this country was founded," Mayor Muriel Bowser, Attorney General Brian Schwalb and D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson said in a joint statement.