Democratic leaders believe Joe Biden is prepared to veto the new D.C. bill: “I’d assume, but I wouldn’t go any further,” said Dick Durbin.
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Senate Republicans took a first step this week, with Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) introducing his resolution of disapproval. In a statement to POLITICO, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he will support the bill, sealing the 49th and final GOP vote and shifting the focus to Democrats.
“While I have always been supportive of ending mandatory minimums for nonviolent crimes, I do not think mandatory minimums should be lifted for violent crimes. Because the D.C. bill reduces sentences for violent crime I will support efforts to overturn the D.C. law,” Paul said.
Even if the resolution gets to 51 votes, it won’t be the end of the story. Biden still has his veto pen.
“My hope is the president would veto it and stand with the residents of the District of Columbia, stand on principle and recognize that this is not a soft-on-crime piece of legislation,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in an interview.
If Biden vetoes the effort, Congress has a high bar to overcome it: two-thirds of both the House and Senate. That would mean at least 17 Senate Democrats and 290 total House members. Thirty-one House Democrats supported the measure, putting it well short of that threshold.
The White House said in a statement of administration policy that it opposes the resolution and that “Congress should respect the District of Columbia’s autonomy to govern its own local affairs.” Should he go further and explicitly vow to veto the disapproval resolution, it could affect those Democrats who are on the fence.
“Anytime the president says that he will veto something, it changes the calculus,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “It means that members may be a lot less inclined to take a position contrary to the president when they know his opposition is so clear.”
Were the measure to clear Biden’s desk, it would send a signal to the House GOP that it could continue to roll back District laws the conference didn’t agree with. And even if Biden successfully vetoes the resolution, it’s clear that House Republicans are more than willing to battle the D.C. government over its ability to govern itself.
It’s a sobering reminder for statehood advocates that the window to seek more autonomy has passed — and it’s not clear when it will come again.
“A couple of years ago, it looked like we were on the doorstep of becoming the 51st state. We still have to work hard every day to aspire to that,” Schwalb said. “We’re now at the whims and the vagaries of a certain small group of politicians who are using the District of Columbia as a prop.”