(The Center Square) – What Mayor Muriel Bowser and the 13-member Council of the District of Columbia will not do, says a Florida congressman, “the federal government has a responsibility” it must provide.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., says his legislation – Make D.C. Safe Again, or House Resolution 4922 – is not a political talking point. “This is real life. The President of the United States and Congress have a responsibility to make sure that the nation’s capital is safe and if the local government is not going to do that, then the federal government has a responsibility to step in.”
The bill lowers the district’s definition of a “youth” from 24 years old to under 18, meaning those arrested age 18 and older will be treated and tried as adults.
Donalds’ proposal is one of several expected to have action as Congress returns to the Beltway on Tuesday. Second-term Republican President Donald Trump has made the criminal cleanup of the district a priority. The White House has provided a number of statistical points since National Guard troops arrived to help last month.
In addition to the age change, the bill from Donalds would remove judicial discretion enabling youth offenders to be sentenced below the mandatory minimum for crimes. It also prohibits the D.C. Council from “from enacting any additional changes to D.C.’s mandatory minimum sentences and sentencing guidelines,” his office says.
