Thirty-three Democratic senators joined Republicans in overturning a Washington, D.C. city council bill that would update the District’s criminal code for the first time in a century, according to The Hill. The vote was an overwhelming 81-74, with proponents including Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ).
President Biden already has said he will not veto the bill, angering many progressives in his party, even though D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a fellow Democrat did not support it.
The bill included a 26-year maximum sentence for carjacking cases, which supporters of the city council bill say is the typical sentence most judges impose.
Upshot: This is the first time in about 30 years that Congress has imposed its will over Washington “home rule,” and is considered a blow to a long-time effort among Democrats to make the District of Columbia the 51st state.
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Williamson Declares, Again
MONDAY 3/7/23
Marianne Williamson, “one-time spiritual guru to Oprah Winfrey and others,” and one of more than two-dozen candidates for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 is running again, and this time she hopes voters take her seriously, The New York Times reports. Williamson, 70, who moved to Washington, D.C., after her first run three years ago sounds like a “Bernie Sanders-style liberal,” according to the Times, and emphasizes economic justice, corporate power and “intentional blindness” of federal government officials to poverty in the U.S.
Meanwhile: President Biden, who has yet to declare for 2024, is still attempting to get beyond conservative charges he is “weak on crime” over his support of police reform, which became branded three years ago as “defund the police.” Biden repeatedly insists he has never embraced such contentious verbiage. Now progressives are upset over reports Biden plans to sign a bill by Congress that would overturn Washington, D.C.’s new criminal justice law, according to The Washington Post.
The bill would shorten penalties for certain crimes committed in the District – Biden singled out lowered penalties for carjacking – and was supported by D.C.’s council over the objections of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser. Biden had previously said he would support criminal justice reform. A statement by the White House a month ago said that Congress’ efforts to block it was an example of “how the District of Columbia continues to be denied true self-governance and why it deserves statehood.”
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