Biden Bows to Republicans on Blocking D.C. Crime Law, Avoiding Veto Fight

WASHINGTON — President Biden said on Thursday that he would not stand in the way of a Republican-led proposal to block a new criminal code for the District of Columbia, steering clear of a veto fight over a measure he had opposed in a move that underscored the rising political potency of public alarm about violent crime.

With a floor showdown expected next week over a contentious, recently enacted D.C. law that reduced some criminal penalties while increasing others, Mr. Biden told senators privately during a luncheon at the Capitol that if the proposal to block the code reached his desk, he would sign it.

He later elaborated on Twitter, saying that his concern about softening sentences outweighed his opposition to Congress interfering in the affairs of the District of Columbia.

“I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule — but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections — such as lowering penalties for carjackings,” Mr. Biden wrote.

His turnabout came after Republicans seized on the law as a way to put Democrats on the spot about crime, an issue that the G.O.P. has been working to turn into a major liability for Mr. Biden and his party, portraying them as lax on enforcement. It was the latest signal that such efforts have prompted concerns among Democrats at a time when crime appears to be resonating as a political issue around the country, as illustrated most recently in Chicago’s mayoral race, where Lori Lightfoot lost her re-election bid this week amid widespread dissatisfaction over her handling of crime and policing.

Public unease about crime has also figured into recent elections in San Francisco and New York.

In Washington, while the White House and most Democrats in Congress came out in opposition to the Republican-led effort to block the District’s law, dozens of Democrats backed the proposal in the House, and momentum appeared to be building in the party’s ranks in the Senate as well. One Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, had already said he intended to back the legislation.

Mr. Biden’s shift eased the pressure on Senate Democrats who had been considering voting for the resolution, sparing them a vote that would defy a veto threat and potentially a wrenching decision on whether to override him.

Senator Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico, was among those who said after the lunch that he now intended to support the effort to block the law, giving it the necessary votes, and many others were expected to follow suit.

The rewrite of the local criminal code in D.C. has come under fire because it lowered or eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for high-profile crimes like carjacking at a time when local residents have experienced a wave of such offenses. Overall, the police report that violent crime has fallen slightly in the District. But like other communities around the country, D.C. has been plagued by a rash of high-profile crimes — many by juveniles — as the pandemic wound down.

According to the police, homicides are up 40 percent so far over the past year, and car thefts have more than doubled. While carjackings are down slightly so far this year, their frequency has jumped significantly over the past three years, with reports flooding social media.

Given the power of Congress to review all District laws, the revised code gave Republicans a ready vehicle for trying to box in Democrats on violent crime.

“Should we be softer on crime, like Democrats want, at the local, state and federal levels?” Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, asked earlier this week. “Or should we be tougher on crime, like Republicans and the American people want? That’s the debate.”

Crime has long been a complicated political issue for Mr. Biden, who helped write a sweeping 1994 tough-on-crime bill. Then he had to backtrack on it during his 2020 presidential race, when deadly police assaults on people of color, mass incarceration and violations of civil rights by law enforcement were top issues for Democrats, particularly the party’s progressive base. Now, with public worries about crime mounting in the post-pandemic era, Mr. Biden is pivoting again with his decision to allow the District code to be overturned.

While his position may bring him plaudits from Democrats worried about their image on crime, it drew harsh criticism from others in his party.

The move blindsided members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who were holding a news conference in Baltimore about their agenda for the 118th Congress when it broke.

“This is news to me, and I’m very disappointed,” said a visibly surprised Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s nonvoting delegate.

Later, she issued a statement saying that Mr. Biden’s stance empowered a “paternalistic, anti-democratic” move by Republicans. Ms. Norton added that she had hoped the measure would die in the Senate for lack of Democratic support, “but with the nationwide increase in crime, most senators do not want to be seen as supporting criminal justice reform.”

Mr. Biden’s decision was a blow to home rule in the District of Columbia, and the issue is most likely not the last time Republicans will challenge local laws in the heavily Democratic capital city.

Over the years, Democrats have generally been willing to defend the District’s autonomy against Republican efforts to undermine it on a variety of issues ranging from health care to education to drug laws. If the resolution is signed into law, it would be the first time in three decades that Congress has overturned a District law.

Brian Schwalb, the District’s attorney general, lamented the likely Republican victory.

“Local autonomy and self-determination are fundamental American values,” he said in a statement. “Any effort to overturn the District of Columbia’s democratically enacted laws degrades the right of its nearly 700,000 residents and elected officials to self-govern — a right that almost every other American has.” He said the only answer was statehood.

Backers of the new criminal code say it was carefully crafted and was being misrepresented to score political points and play on citizen unease about violent crime in the District and across the country. They noted that the rewrite brought local laws in line with those of most states and increased penalties for a variety of crimes, including armed robbery, sexual assault and attempted murder. They said the reductions in penalties brought the sentences in line with those being handed down in the courts. And they pointed out that violent crime is down slightly in the District, though homicides are on the rise.

Republicans joined Mr. Biden in citing the decision by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser to veto the law as a persuasive factor. She was later overridden by the District council.

“First rule of politics,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. “Don’t get to the left of D.C.’s mayor.”

“He saw the light,” Mr. Graham said of the president.

The growing support for the legislation in the Senate meant that Mr. Biden, too, risked having his veto overridden, after a politically painful debate over crime that many Democrats would rather avoid.

The president’s decision followed Senate approval on Wednesday of another resolution of disapproval, this one overturning a Biden administration policy on allowing retirement funds to consider climate change and other social factors when picking investments. Republicans denounced it as an example of “woke” policymaking by Democrats, though the rule was drafted to counter a Trump administration policy that banned taking such factors into account.

Just two Democrats, Mr. Manchin and Senator Jon Tester of Montana, voted with Republicans on that resolution, and their support was sufficient to put it over the top. The White House said Mr. Biden would veto that legislation, making it the first of his presidency.

Luke Broadwater contributed reporting from Baltimore.