Black Democratic leaders in Congress are concerned that President Biden's desire to look strong on crime could undermine efforts to make the criminal justice system fairer to people of color.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks at a House hearing on gun violence last June.
It could overturn a criminal reform plan by the D.C. Council, which overrode Mayor Muriel Bowser's veto to approve softer penalties for some violent crimes. Democratic presidents and members of Congress typically have emphasized support for allowing D.C. to govern itself. "That's news to me," Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s non-voting delegate, said Thursday when Axios told her of Biden's move. "I am very disappointed."his decision with a tweet: "I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule — but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections — such as lowering penalties for carjackings.
GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik told Axios: "For the past two years, far left Democrats' 'defund the police' movement and soft-on-crime policies have created a violent crime crisis in America, and nowhere is that crisis more evident than our nation's capital."
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