McConnell Promises Republican Action on D.C. Crime, Blasts ‘Reckless’ and ‘Woke’ Policies

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell excoriated Washington, D.C.’s city council on Tuesday, blaming the “woke far-left” for championing “reckless local policies” that have worsened the city’s crime epidemic.

Last week, the council overrode Mayor Muriel Bowser‘s veto of a bill that reduced the maximum sentence for carjacking from 40 to 24 years, the maximum sentence for an already-convicted violent felon for a gun crime from 15 to 4 years among other provisions. The revisions to the city’s criminal code come as its citizens cope with skyrocketing crime rates.

In 2018, 148 carjackings were recorded by the Metropolitan Police Department. By 2022, that figure had risen to 485, and already this year 37 have been recorded, only 3 of which have been resolved.

For the first time since 2002 and 2003, 200+ murders were committed in consecutive years in D.C.in 2021 and 2022, up from 198 in 2020.

McConnell expressed shock that the council “responded to this crime wave with a new criminal code that… reduces penalties even further” before proclaiming that “the good news on this front is that the United States Congress gets to have the final word over reckless local policies from the D.C. government.”

“Senate Republicans will have a lot more to say on this subject,” he promised. Congress has 30 days in session to review most legislation passed by the council and 60 days “in the case of certain laws related to criminal proceedings.”

McConnell’s statements come after a disappointing midterm cycle for the GOP that nevertheless saw the party overperform in deep blue New York, where Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin‘s relentless focus on crime has been credited with carrying congressional candidates over the line.

A renewed focus on conditions in the capital from Republicans in Congress could serve as a worthwhile political avatar — one akin to that which Zeldin made out of New York City — going into 2024 by drawing attention to concerns over rising crime rates across the country in a particularly visceral and embarrassing way.

Shootings in broad daylight just a short walk away from the seat of the most powerful legislature in the world are symbolically powerful in the same way that the events of January 6, 2021 were, and for good reason.

Why should Americans be complacent with such a dismal status quo, or those in a position to do something about it but won’t?

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