With House Republicans now attempting to influence the city’s elections and Democratic wildcard Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia voting with the GOP on undoing the criminal code change, it has been another busy week on the collision course between Congress and local D.C.
Why it matters: Congress is exercising greater control over the District of Columbia than in prior years, which has irked local officials and may put President Biden in a difficult decision on whether to veto bipartisan legislation.
Driving the news: As Capitol Hill is a hot topic right now, I consulted Axios Congress reporter Andrew Solender, who had just broken the story that a little-known House committee wanted to look into whether D.C. and other jurisdictions used federal funding to facilitate non-citizen voting.
Steil’s plans are unclear, and his office declined our request for comment. Nonetheless, it subtly suggests more micromanagement of the District.
Quick catch-up Elections are in the spotlight after the House voted last month to reverse a D.C. law enabling non-citizen residents to vote in municipal elections.
The mystery: According to the D.C. Council, the mandatory 30-day congressional review time was completed last week, and the bill is now officially a law. According to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office, the Senate parliamentarian disputes how those days were tallied and asserts that the Senate has until March 14 to decide on whether to reverse it.
In the meantime, the office of Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty informs me that he intends to advancead resolution next week, possibly next Tuesday or Wednesday, overturning the city’s criminal code reform. It just needs a simple majority vote.
Manchin told CNN he would “vote to rescind” the reform, meaning that the Senate could pass the resolution with just Manchin and 49 Republicans — if Democratic Sen. John Fetterman remains hospitalized, as DCist notes. But it’s also very possible more moderates like Democratic Sen. Jon Tester join Manchin, forcing Biden to weigh his first veto.
