After months of threats, insults and federal actions against the local government of Washington, D.C., the city’s leaders are poised to mount their defense on Thursday when they testify before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.
Much of the attention will be on Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, who after publicly standing up to President Trump in his first term has been trying a more diplomatic approach this time around. She has pledged to work with the administration on law-and-order issues, and said in a letter to the committee’s leaders that she looked forward to continuing a “productive partnership” on “shared priorities” such as public safety and return-to-work policies. But she said that her vision of the partnership “respects the will of D.C. residents and honors the principles of home rule.”
While many local officials and D.C. residents say they are sympathetic to the mayor’s position, given how vulnerable the city is to federal intervention, her critics say the diplomatic approach hasn’t kept Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans from coming after the city.
A “public safety emergency” declared in August by Mr. Trump — giving him legal authority to make demands of the local police department — expired last week, but hundreds of additional federal law enforcement officers and thousands of National Guard troops are still patrolling the city. On Monday morning, Mr. Trump threatened on social media to declare a new emergency after the mayor told reporters that with the expiration of the emergency order, the local police were no longer required to cooperate on immigration enforcement.
The House Oversight Committee has already endorsed 14 bills, mostly on party line votes, that would mandate changes to D.C. laws regarding criminal justice or expand federal control over the city’s affairs. Four of these — including bills lowering the age at which juveniles can be charged as adults, and repealing rules governing police car chases in the city — have since been voted on by the full House and passed.
Washington has always been a rhetorical punching bag for the right, and with no vote in Congress and limited say over its own affairs, it has always been vulnerable to federal intervention. But in the 52 years since Washington was granted the right to home rule, rarely if ever have efforts to chip away at its limited autonomy come so fast and furious. This has prompted different strategies among the officials who will be testifying on Thursday.
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The post Amid Republican Crackdown on D.C., City Leaders to Testify appeared first on New York Times.
