House Republicans pass bills aimed at changing cash bail, police policies in DC
Congress set to vote on legislation dealing with bail, police reforms in DC
House Republicans are advancing two pieces of legislation aimed at local D.C. laws dealing with bail and police reforms. FOX 5’s Tom Fitzgerald is live on Capitol Hill with the latest.
WASHINGTON - House Republicans on Wednesday passed two pieces of legislation aimed at changing D.C. laws on cash bail and police policy.
The bills:
House Republicans are continuing to put pressure on D.C. leaders, this time taking direct aim at the city’s criminal justice and policing polices.
In line with President Donald Trump’s desire to take further control of the District, GOP lawmakers have been looking to upend D.C.’s current bail system and end policing reforms that have been in place since the George Floyd protests.
The House Oversight Committee is calling it "Commonsense Law Enforcement."
House votes to change DC crime laws
In another move by Congress to intervene in local D.C. policy, the Republican-led House passed two bills aimed at public safety.
The first bill, the District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act introduced by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), ends D.C.’s no-cash bail, replacing it with cash bail. This essentially ties a person’s release to their ability to pay.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in August doing away with cashless bail nationwide.
The second bill, the Common-Sense Law Enforcement and Accountability Now in DC (CLEAN DC) Act introduced by introduced by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), rolls back local D.C. police reforms like limits on chokeholds, body-cam rules and accountability. House Republicans say those moves sparked a 2024 crime spike in D.C.
What they're saying:
The House Oversight Committee released its statement following the passage of the bills, saying they’re combating crime and empowering local law enforcement.
"For far too long, dangerous criminals have been allowed to roam the streets of Washington, D.C., posing a threat to the general public and progressive liberal judges are currently allowed to release them," Chairman House Oversight Committee Rep. James Comer said.
But others say governing D.C. should be left to local elected leaders, not Congress.
"The people best positioned to make decisions about local polices in their local communities are local leaders! after you listen to that local community," said Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.)
"Tonight's votes are yet another example demonstrating that House Republicans, elected to represent far-away districts, are more interested in forcing their will on D.C. residents than in representing the interests of their own constituents," said Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) . "Rep. Stefanik's bill forces mandatory detention without due process protections that the Constitution requires and Americans rightly expect, and Rep. Clyde's bill would overturn a carefully negotiated, locally supported police reform law."
Local perspective:
This week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called the bills "an affront to Home Rule."
Advocates are split: supporters say D.C.’s policing reforms should be rolled back because they tied the hands of their own officers from fighting crime, while others say that getting rid of no-cash bail restores a two-tier system where those who can pay are released, and those who can’t stay behind bars.
"These weren’t police reforms. These are police ‘de-forms’ when you don’t let police chase after suspects when they commit crimes right in front of their very face," said Cully Stimson with The Heritage Foundation.
"It doesn’t improve safety in our jails and on top of that, our jails cannot handle what this proposal is," said Ariel Levinson-Waldman with the Tzedek D.C. Legal Center.