Journalist Andrew Leyden on Wednesday recorded an allegedly failed carjacking attempt in the middle of a D.C. Criminal Code reform protest.
Leyden said he caught an attempted car theft as he exited Union Station in Washington, D.C. The purported thief fled and ran past the D.C. Criminal Code reform protest as a witness called over nearby police, according to Leyden.
Opponents of the D.C. Criminal Code bill claim the city council’s proposal would soften law enforcement. Proponents of the crime bill argue Congress should respect the city council’s right to make decisions regarding DC’s internal affairs.
The proposal to overhaul the city’s crime code would have changed the classification for certain crimes, eliminated mandatory minimums and reduced the maximum sentence for carjacking, robbery and burglary.
Democrats reportedly fear the GOP could use the passage of the crime bill to successfully paint the party as being soft on crime, which has been a weak point for Democrats in elections.
The House GOP has made tackling crime a legislative priority, subsequently kick-starting an effort to shoot down the proposal. The house resolution of disapproval passed with a 250-173 vote in February. Thirty-one Democrats voted alongside Republicans, but most Democrats voted against the bill’s repeal.
Cory Booker rips hypocrisy of vote against DC’s crime bill “By voting against this, people in the name of being tough on crime are actually the people that are preventing a city from better protecting itself.. I have not in my 10 years in the Senate seen such a distotion of fact” pic.twitter.com/lnkpYR49Vo
— Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) March 8, 2023
President Biden has aligned with some GOP-led efforts to block the bill, which angered many of his fellow Democrats. “I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the mayor’s objections — such as lowering penalties for carjackings,” the president said in a Tweet.
“We need to make sure the Senate understands the full effect of taking away local decision-making, particularly for the District of Columbia that does not have representation in that manner,” Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada said in a statement following Biden’s Twitter post.
The Senate on Wednesday passed the Republican-led resolution to block the D.C. crime bill at an 81-14 margin.