After Passage of Two Anti-D.C. Home Rule Bills, Norton Says House Republican Cycle of “Disingenuous Partisanship” Towards D.C. Must End

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After the House passed two anti-D.C. home rule bills to change D.C.'s criminal laws today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said the cycle of disingenuous partisanship, in which Republicans in Congress claim to be concerned about D.C. while decreasing D.C.'s ability to make its own decisions, must end. The first bill, the D.C. CRIMES Act, was introduced by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and would amend D.C.'s Youth Rehabilitation Amendment Act, changing the age at which a court is allowed discretion to impose alternative sentences on a person, other than for certain offenses, and to seal the individual's records, from 24 to 18. The second bill, introduced by Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX), would lower the age minors can be tried as adults in D.C. to 14 years old.

"Today's vote is yet another shameful assault on the democratic rights of more than 700,000 taxpaying D.C. residents. House Republicans, none of whom represent D.C. or are accountable to its people, are once again engaging in disingenuous partisanship to impose their preferred policies on D.C. This cycle is counterproductive, and it must end," Norton said.

"This cycle of interference is not about good governance, since D.C. officials, not Republicans in Congress, are best positioned to decide what policies are beneficial for the District. It is about denying D.C. residents the basic right of self-government that every American deserves and treating the nation's capital as Republicans' own fiefdom, democracy be damned. Until D.C. achieves full autonomy and statehood, I will not stop fighting these undemocratic attacks."

###