{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases/norton-highlights-biden-administration-statement-opposing-dc-crimes-act-house", "Norton Highlights Biden Administration Statement Opposing D.C. CRIMES Act on House Floor Today, D.C. Officials\u2019 Opposition to the Bill, Releases Floor Remarks", "2024-05-15", "2024", "2024-05", "Democrat", "House", "DC", "Eleanor Holmes Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", "norton", "https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) highlighted the Biden Administration\u2019s Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) opposing the D.C. CRIMES Act, which the House is considering today. The SAP stated that the bill was \u201ca counterproductive and destructive invasion of the District\u2019s right to self-governance and would impede public safety and crime reduction.\u201d D.C.\u2019s three top local elected officials, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, and Attorney General Brian Schwalb, also oppose the bill.\n\n\u201cThank you, President Biden, for your strong statement opposing the radical, undemocratic and paternalistic bill on the House floor today,\u201d Norton said. \u201cThe bill, introduced by a member of Congress who was not elected by D.C. residents, would remove D.C.\u2019s ability to increase criminal penalties for violations of its own local laws. It could even be construed to prevent D.C. from creating any new crimes in the future, impeding the District\u2019s ability to respond to new threats. And thank you to D.C.\u2019s local officials for supporting home rule.\n\n\u201cThe bill is an egregious violation of D.C. residents\u2019 right to self-governance, and as the Biden Administration rightly states, it highlights why D.C. needs statehood.\u201d\n\nNorton is expected to speak on the House floor today at approximately 4:15 p.m. opposing the bill. Her floor remarks follow, as prepared for delivery.\n\nFloor Statement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton\n\nH.R. 7530, the DC CRIMES Act of 2024\n\nMay 15, 2024\n\nI strongly oppose this radical, undemocratic and paternalistic bill, as do the three top local elected District of Columbia officials: Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb. I ask unanimous consent to insert into the record their joint letter opposing this bill.\n\nBefore I discuss the substance of this bill, I want to discuss democracy, and the lack of it in D.C. D.C. residents, who have all the obligations of American citizenship, have no voting representation in Congress, and Congress has the ultimate say on local D.C. matters.\n\nWhile my Republican colleagues are correct that Congress has the constitutional authority to legislate on local D.C. matters, their assertion that Congress has a constitutional duty to do so is wrong. Legislating on local D.C. matters is a choice. As the Supreme Court held in 1953, \u201cthere is no constitutional barrier to the delegation by Congress to the District of Columbia of full legislative power.\u201d\n\nD.C.\u2019s local legislature, the Council, has 13 members. The members are elected by D.C. residents. If D.C. residents do not like how the members vote, they can vote them out of office. That is called democracy.\n\nCongress has 535 voting members. The members are elected by residents of their states. None are elected by D.C. residents. If D.C. residents do not like how the members vote on local D.C. matters, they cannot vote them out of office. That is the anthesis of democracy.\n\nThe merits of this bill should be irrelevant, since there is never justification for Congress legislating on local D.C. matters. However, I will discuss this bill.\n\nThis bill would be the biggest rollback of D.C. self-government in a generation. This bill says the D.C. Council may not \u201cenact any act, resolution, or rule to change any criminal liability sentence in effect on the date of the enactment of the DC CRIMES Act of 2024.\u201d This provision, which does not define the term criminal liability sentence, is as poorly drafted as it is offensive. It takes away D.C.\u2019s authority to increase or decrease statutory criminal penalties. If D.C. wanted to increase penalties for violent crime, it could not do so. This bill could even be construed to prevent D.C. from establishing any new crimes at all.\n\nThis bill also reduces the maximum age of eligibility for D.C.\u2019s Youth Rehabilitation Amendment Act of 1985. D.C. is not the only jurisdiction to have such a so-called young adult offender law. Alabama, Florida, Michigan, New York, South Carolina and Vermont have such laws. The sponsor of this bill is from one of those six states.\n\nThe Revolutionary War was fought to give consent to the governed and to end taxation without representation. Yet, D.C. residents cannot consent to any action taken by Congress and pay full federal taxes. Indeed, D.C. pays more federal taxes per capita than any state and more total federal taxes than 20 states.\n\nIf House Republicans cared about democratic principles or D.C. residents, they would bring to the floor my D.C. statehood bill, H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which would give D.C. residents voting representation in Congress and full local self-government. Congress has the constitutional authority to admit the State of Washington, D.C. It simply lacks the will.\n\nThe nearly 700,000 D.C. residents, a majority of whom are Black and Brown, are worthy and capable of self-government.\n\nI urge members to vote NO on this bill and to keep their hands off D.C.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:01:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases/norton-highlights-biden-administration-statement-opposing-dc-crimes-act-house"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.06741301715374, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}