House and Senate Democrats on Friday introduced legislation that would end the Trump administration’s control of Washington’s police department, part of an escalating effort to fight President Trump’s takeover of the nation’s capital.
The resolutions, which have little chance of advancing in the Republican-controlled Congress, would terminate the state of emergency that Mr. Trump declared in his executive order on Monday that federalized the Metropolitan Police Department. Under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, a president can order D.C.’s mayor to give him temporary control of the police, but Congress can terminate the authority.
The resolutions were introduced the same day that D.C.’s local government filed a lawsuit challenging Mr. Trump’s efforts. It argued that he and Attorney General Pam Bondi had exceeded the scope of their authority under the Home Rule Act, which in 1973 granted D.C. a limited degree of self-government. The city of about 700,000 people has no voting power in Congress.
Representative Jamie Raskin, whose Maryland district includes the Washington suburbs, accused Mr. Trump in a statement of a “hostile takeover of D.C.’s police force” that was part of larger pattern of abusing presidential power.
Mr. Raskin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, introduced the resolution in the House, with Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton, the nonvoting delegate from the District of Columbia, and Robert Garcia of California, the leading Democrat on the Oversight Committee, which oversees Washington. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland brought the resolution in the Senate.
Their legislation faces long odds given Republicans’ lock on power on Capitol Hill and their unwillingness to break from Mr. Trump. G.O.P. leaders in both chambers have voiced support for the president’s actions in Washington. Democrats would need support from Republicans to ever allow the matter to proceed to the floor.
But the effort offers a hint at how Democrats may try to fight Mr. Trump’s actions in Washington and use them to make larger political arguments to the American public.
In their resolutions, the Democrats cite statistics showing that violent crime is at a 30-year low in D.C. as evidence that there is no emergency to justify Mr. Trump’s actions.
Mr. Van Hollen pointed to Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, destroying federal property and attacking police officers.
“Trump was AWOL when the District of Columbia actually needed support from the National Guard to protect it from an insurrectionist mob on Jan. 6,” Mr. Van Hollen said in a statement. “His current takeover is an abuse of power and nothing more than a raw power grab.”
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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