Steve Scalise looks to rally support behind sweeping energy cost reduction bill

Juliegrace Brufke

March 19, 06:00 AM March 19, 06:14 AM

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is looking to rally support behind a sweeping energy bill that Republicans are making their top priority for the 118th Congress.

HR 1 — the Lower Energy Costs Act, which is being led by the Louisiana Republican — aims to reform the permitting process for energy production, limit executive authority, roll back parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, and bar bans on fracking in an effort proponents argue will bolster domestic energy production.

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“We won't have to be dependent on just ... China for critical minerals for things like computer chips and electric car batteries. It gets rid of the natural gas tax that President Biden put in place last year that's costing families billions of dollars in additional energy taxes, so that repeal helps,” Scalise told the Washington Examiner. “There are a lot of big wins for hardworking families in this bill. And I hope that President Biden reverses course and supports it just like in the D.C. crime bill.”

The bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asserting that it is dead in the Democratic-controlled upper chamber. But Scalise is calling for the measure to receive bipartisan support, asserting that he believes the legislation is in the best interest of the country.

“Why wouldn't any Democrats want to vote for this? We're going to give them an opportunity. I mean, every member of Congress has heard from families who are struggling, high cost of energy, and it hits lower-income people the hardest. You know, Joe Biden, just because the far Left wanted to wage a war on American fossil fuels, again caved into the most extreme elements of his party, but it's been at the expense of hardworking families. So if they just looked themselves in the mirror and admitted that this experiment failed, then they would join with us and pass this bill and get a big dividend back in the pockets of hardworking families,” he said.

“This would increase the paychecks of families all across America if this bill passed,” he added.

Scalise said the House GOP leadership team deliberated over what should be their most pressing priority and ultimately determined high-energy costs were a crucial issue that affect costs for families.

“Obviously Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy [R-CA] was very involved in this from making it one of the key parts of our 'Commitment to America,'” he said.

Outside conservative groups are heavily advocating the measure, with American Action Network pouring $1.5 million into an ad campaign running in 12 swing districts held by Democrats.

“It’s a topic that just about every Republican has been talking about for years now that it makes no sense that we're shutting down American energy when we know how to make it better than anybody else in the world,” he said.

“We have a lot of bills that ... the three relevant committees, Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, and Transportation, have brought forward over the last two years, and [former Speaker Nancy] Pelosi [D-CA] wouldn't let any of those bills come to the floor. So, you know, it was a no-brainer that when [we] looked at what's the issue that that's been the most unifying and one that we've been the most vocal on ... since President Biden took office,” he added.

WATCH LIVE: Senate holds vote on crime bill despite DC Council withdrawal

Rachel Schilke

March 08, 04:00 PM March 08, 04:00 PM

The Senate is voting on whether to overturn Washington, D.C.'s criminal code that would lessen penalties for some crimes, including homicide.

The vote comes after Council of the District of Columbia Chairman Phil Mendelson sent a letter to Vice President Kamala Harris withdrawing the criminal code bill from the Senate and saying it would undergo revisions to be resubmitted at a later date.

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However, Senate leaders said they planned to move forward with the vote shortly after Mendelson's announcement.

"Not only does the statute not allow for a withdrawal of a transmission, but at this point, the Senate Republican privileged motion will be acting on the House disapproval resolution, rather than the DC Council’s transmission to the Senate," a Senate leadership aide said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.

Mendelson called the Senate vote "symbolic" and drew on the Home Rule Act as justification for the bill's removal.

GOP lawmakers have been successful in their efforts to overhaul Washington's bill, part of a larger-scale strategy to pressure both President Joe Biden and Democrats to take a tougher approach to crime.

If the bill passes the Senate, it will head to Biden's desk, where it is expected to be signed despite it no longer technically being before both chambers.

The vote will begin at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday.

Democrats furious with Biden over DC crime bill won't pull support for reelection bid

Cami Mondeaux

March 04, 09:30 AM March 04, 09:30 AM

House Democrats from all corners of the party are rallying behind President Joe Biden ahead of his expected reelection bid, offering him support despite rising tensions stemming from Biden’s decision not to block a GOP-led resolution overturning and overhauling Washington’s century-old criminal code.

Party members in the House have expressed support for Biden’s likely reelection campaign, with many arguing he is the best chance for Democrats to maintain control of the White House in 2024.

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“I do think he should run; I think he will win,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the No. 3 House Democrat, said during a Punchbowl News event in Baltimore this week. “Time and time again, you know, he was able to deliver with House Democrats, with Senate Democrats, and so I think that he can and should run.”

Aguilar touted some of Biden’s accomplishments during his first two years in office, such as the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in 2021, which has become a key tenet of the president’s legislative agenda. Should Biden launch a second White House bid, he would have the support of the House Democratic Caucus, Aguilar added.

Other Democrats pointed to Biden’s performance in the 2020 election, arguing the voter base he attracted would “come back even stronger in 2024.”

“In those 18 districts that are held by Biden Republicans, he’s the best in terms of his message and how he approaches this,” said Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH), according to the Hill.

It’s unclear when Biden plans to announce his reelection campaign, although it’s widely expected to happen sometime in April. However, some Democrats are pushing the president to do it sooner, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Jayapal’s support comes even after she endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the 2020 election when he ran against Biden for the nomination.

“Nobody’s surprised that Biden was not my choice in the first election for the primary,” Jayapal said during the Baltimore retreat this week. “But the [Progressive Caucus] and the president and his administration have formed an incredibly strong partnership.”

House Democrats are likely to stand firm in their support for the president even after Biden announced earlier this week he would not veto a Republican-led bill seeking to overturn Washington’s revised criminal code — a decision that blindsided and angered several party lawmakers who voted against the measure. The legislation is poised to pass the Senate next week, and without Biden’s veto, it sets the stage for Congress to override local legislation passed by the D.C. Council for the first time in 30 years.

Democrats accused Biden of walking back his previous stance on the issue, pointing to comments the White House made last month that the president opposed the resolution seeking to overturn the criminal code. Biden didn’t tell lawmakers he planned to sign the GOP-led measure until weeks after it passed the House.

“This ain’t it. DC has a right to govern itself, like any other state or municipality. If the President supports DC statehood, he should govern like it,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “Plenty of places pass laws the President may disagree with. He should respect the people’s gov of DC just as he does elsewhere.”

At least two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Patty Murray of Washington, said they would vote to overturn the criminal code. That all but guarantees its passage in the upper chamber, where Democrats have temporarily lost their outright majority with the absences of Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Both are currently out of office due to health problems.

Top Senate Democrat lines up behind Biden on DC crime law

Juliegrace Brufke

March 03, 03:20 PM March 03, 03:20 PM

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said she would vote to repeal the Washington crime bill, one day after President Joe Biden told Senate Democrats at a caucus lunch that he would not veto the legislation should it arrive on his desk.

Murray's decision, which follows centrist Democrat Joe Manchin (WV) announcing that he'd oppose Washington's crime code overhaul earlier this week, signals other Democrats may soon line up behind the president, who initially opposed the resolution. With two Democratic senators absent from the upper chamber, Manchin's vote suggested the GOP-led measure had the support to pass.

"I absolutely respect that decision," Murray, the president pro tempore of the Senate, told CNN of Biden's announcement. "I'll be voting the same way the president is."

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Centrist Democrats have largely voiced support for the resolution as Republicans have looked to hit the party over allegations it is soft on crime. The decision, however, has sparked backlash from a sizable number of members in both chambers.

“I’m disappointed. First of all, I hope the Senate would not pass it. But I think it’s pretty clear they will,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) told Politico. “And to me, the Congress should not substitute its judgment for the elected representatives of the people of the District of Columbia.”

Washington Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) said it was a “sad day” for the district and a step in the wrong direction for the city’s ability to self-govern.

“We had hoped that with more Senate support, we would have been able to ensure that neither disapproval resolution pending before the Senate would reach the president’s desk, but with the nationwide increase in crime, most senators do not want to be seen as supporting criminal justice reform," she told the Hill.

Washington’s new crime laws eliminated a large portion of mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes and reinstated the use of jury trials for misdemeanors. Its repeal passed the House last month with the support of 31 Democrats.

In boost to Republicans, Manchin says he will oppose DC crime law

Brady Knox

February 27, 11:22 PM February 27, 11:22 PM

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he would vote against a controversial Washington D.C. crime law, all but ensuring Republicans' efforts to repeal it will be successful.

The law, which overhauls the district's criminal code and drastically reduces sentences for some violent crimes, has come under bipartisan criticism for being too lax on crime. A bill to repeal the law passed in the House with 31 Democratic votes. With Manchin's announcement on CNN that he would support the bill repealing the law, it is likely to pass in the Senate too.

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“I don’t support it. I mean, I want to put people away, I don’t want to let them out,” Manchin said of the new law. “I haven’t been briefed on it, but what I know about it, I would vote to rescind it.”

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the bill's chief sponsor, compared the law to the "defund the police" initiative, casting it as highly unpopular and potentially fatal to the careers of Democratic moderates.

“I don’t think that’s going to be very popular in their states and this falls right in that lane,” Hagerty said.

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser opposed the law and attempted to veto it, though her veto was overridden by the city council. She has since come out to say that although she opposes the law, she opposes Congress's effort to rescind it.

DC mayor vetoes city's overhaul of criminal code for sending 'wrong message'

Cami Mondeaux

January 04, 11:50 AM January 04, 11:50 AM

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the D.C. Council’s bill to overhaul the city’s criminal code, arguing several of the provisions that seek to reduce penalties for some crimes would send “the wrong message” and overwhelm the district’s court system.

Bowser announced her intent to veto the bill during a press conference on Tuesday, sending a formal letter of concerns to city council members the following day. Her veto comes just two months after lawmakers unanimously passed the bill seeking to overhaul the city’s entire criminal code — a project the district has been working on for 16 years.

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"I support modernizing and standardizing the District’s criminal code. However, given the broad scope of legislation, and remaining divisions of the criminal justice community, I urge the Council to take more time to consider it, a sentiment I have heard echoed in the community," Bowser wrote in a letter to the council on Wednesday. "A complete overhaul of our city’s criminal code is a once-a-century opportunity. I believe it is more important to get this opportunity right than to add policies and weaken penalties into what should be a bill that makes D.C. safer. As elected officials, it is our duty to ensure our criminal justice system is fair and functional. Enacting this legislation without listening to our criminal justice partners or our judicial branch fails to uphold that duty."

The rewritten legislation sought to clarify and redefine penalties for criminal offenses, with several lawmakers arguing severe punishments often do not deter crime rates. Part of the rewrite included provisions that would eliminate most mandatory minimum sentences, establish jury trials for nearly all misdemeanor cases, and reduce the maximum penalties for crimes such as carjackings or robberies.

Lawmakers responded to initial pushback of reduced sentences, arguing punishments for more severe crimes wouldn’t be reduced and that many of the newly proposed penalties lined up with how judges and juries have been ruling for years. Additionally, the law is not set to take place for three years, giving law enforcement and court officials time to prepare.

Proponents of the bill criticized Bowser for her pledge to veto, with several lawmakers vowing to override her decision.

“You couldn’t ask for a more thorough process to craft a bill that modernizes and overhauls what is consistently ranked as one of the worst criminal codes in the United States,” said Councilman Charles Allen, who chaired the council’s public safety committee at the time the legislation passed, in a statement. "A veto sends a message to keep the status quo — one that has clearly shown it doesn’t keep us safe — and it is not the right decision for the moment we face.”

The council only needs a two-thirds majority to override a veto from Bowser, a likely outcome as the bill unanimously passed the legislative body twice last year.

Lawmakers began the process of overhauling the city’s criminal code 16 years ago in order to update the law’s language and policies. As a result, the D.C. Council created the Criminal Code Reform Commission to analyze the current law, research best practices, and propose changes.

“The Revised Criminal Code Act is the product of a 16-year-long effort with hard-fought compromise and consensus among the key agencies who administer our criminal justice system,” Allen said. “After lengthy discussions, serious compromises, and two unanimous votes by the Council to pass this legislation, residents can trust the Council will do the right thing and override a veto to put the modernized law in place.”