DISAPPROVING THE ACTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COUNCIL IN APPROVING THE REVISED CRIMINAL CODE ACT OF 2022
Congressional Record Vol. 169, No. 44
(Senate - March 8, 2023) PDF
Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I rise to express my support also for
the resolution of disapproval of the new soft-on-crime law approved by
the District of Columbia City Council. The resolution represents my
chance to say: Enough is enough.
Today, Americans feel increasingly unsafe. It is not hard to
understand why, since it has become impossible to disregard or dismiss
the unraveling of law and order across the country over the past few
years.
Whether it is the lack of law enforcement on the border, anti-police
rhetoric, or weakened punishments for the violent crimes, Americans
know the shift away from law and order, right and wrong, is tearing all
the fabric of their communities. Crime is at a 25-year high across the
entire country.
Unfortunately, my home State of Mississippi is not immune from this
trend. Our capital, Jackson, has recorded more than 100 homicides for 3
consecutive years.
It is the same song, different verse in our Nation's very own
Capital, where overall crime is up 25 percent since last year. In fact,
Washington, DC's murder rate is 34 percent higher today than this time
last year. Auto thefts are up 110 percent in this city.
What has the response been from the Democratic leadership? Well, it
certainly has not made public safety a priority. There is a good reason
the Senate is considering a resolution of disapproval against the DC
Council's Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022. With DC's growing record
of lawlessness, the city council voted to eliminate mandatory minimum
sentences and reduce penalties for crimes like robbery, carjacking,
home invasion, burglary, and more. These are violent crimes that leave
victims traumatized, injured, or worse--dead.
So why is the instinct to protect the criminal--to signal that the
penalties for violating the law are being eased?
This law will put residents, constituents, tourists, Federal workers,
and elected officials directly in harm's way. Rather than holding them
accountable for their own actions, the DC Council would prefer to let
these violent criminals go back to the streets and commit the same
violent crimes. Is it any wonder Washington, DC, has a police
recruitment and retention problem?
At the same time, those responsible for enforcing our justice system
seem more interested in carrying out ``justice'' based on politics. The
Biden administration's Justice Department, for example, appears to be
laser-focused on parents at local school board meetings, pro-life
Americans exercising their right to protest, and spying on Catholic
Americans, while taking a nothing-to-see-here approach to threats of
violence against sitting Justices at the Supreme Court or attacks on
pregnancy centers. If things continue this way, Americans will start to
wonder if their safety and protection is determined by their political
affiliation.
Mr. President, public safety should not be a political issue. It is
not virtue signaling to lessen punishments for violent criminals; it is
just dangerous. It is not progressive to pretend the breakdown in
border security and subsequent flood of fentanyl aren't contributing to
the surges in the crime and death; it is nonsensical.
Americans who live in the greatest Nation in the world at the very
least deserve to feel safe. We deserve to live in a country of law and
order. Yes, it is time to say ``enough is enough'' to the radical
policies embraced by the Democratic Party that have only resulted in
more crime, more fear and more tragedies.
I yield the floor.