More than 100 District residents went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to let members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight & Accountability know that they support the city’s leadership and can manage their hometown without federal interference.
The committee held a hearing convened by U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) to ask questions about the state of the District in regard to public safety primarily at the Rayburn House Office Building in the U.S. Capitol complex. Testifying on behalf of the District were D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, D.C. City Administrator Kevin Donahue and D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III.
Adrianne Mickens, a Navy Yard resident in Southeast, came to the hearing to show her support for the city and its leaders.
“I am here for D.C. statehood,” Mickens, 36, said, sitting outside of the hearing room, waiting to get in to observe the proceedings. “I am here to support Mayor Bowser in person.”
On March 29, Comer brought in D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), Greggory Pemberton, chairman of the D.C. Police Union and D.C. Chief Financial Officer Glenn Lee to explain to the committee their rationale on supporting the District’s newly enacted criminal code update as he had reservations about some of its provisions. The exchanges got testy at times between Mendelson and Allen versus the Republican members of Congress as the council members refuted accusations of being soft on crime. The House eventually passed a disapproval resolution nixing the criminal code revision. Both the Senate and President Biden supported the disapproval resolution. While Bowser didn’t sign the criminal code revision, she spoke out against federal interference in the D.C. Council’s lawmaking. Recently, the House passed a disapproval resolution nullifying a bill reforming policing in the District but Biden has said he would not sign it.
The Hearing: Cordial Yet Pointed
The Bowser hearing didn’t have the fierce exchanges that occurred on March 29. Comer, who has publicly indicated he didn’t support D.C. statehood but has stopped short of advocating the revoking of Home Rule, delivered his opening remarks in an even tone. He cited crime statistics compiled by the District’s police department as proof that the crime has gripped the city.”
Washington, D.C. has a crime crisis,” he said. “The two D.C. bills that the D.C. City Council passed, the one on the criminal code and the other one on police reform, are soft on crime bills.”
Maryland’s Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, denounced the purpose of the hearing and criticized Comer for the subject matter.
“This Oversight Committee has not had one single hearing on gun violence or the how to deal with the debt limit,” Raskin, 60, said. “We have had no hearing on the war on freedom or the content of textbooks or the problems LGBTQ people face. We have not had a hearing on the Dobbs decision. This is the second hearing we have had to micromanage D.C. I expect some of the people up here to run for Ward 6 council member or serve as an advisory neighborhood commissioner.”
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) spoke about the need for District statehood. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Maryland) noted that he is the only member of the panel, other than Norton, who voted for a D.C. statehood bill in 1993 and in 2021.
Throughout the hearing, Bowser and Contee responded to questions calmly and did not appear to be irritated by GOP lawmakers. Graves spoke passionately about his role in fighting crime in the city, pointedly refuting Republican claims that his office did not take his responsibilities seriously.
The hearing lasted three and half hours and Makia Green, Ward 7 resident and co-founder of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, a Black-led abolitionist community defense hub, waited it out.
“I wanted to come here to support my city and try to stop the lies and misinformation that has been spread about D.C.,” Green, 31, said.
