At a House Rules Committee hearing last week, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) questioned fellow lawmakers about bills to block noncitizens from voting in Washington, D.C.
00:05Mr. Comer, there are some D.C. residents in the room right now.
00:10I assume they're D.C. residents. They all have free D.C. t-shirts on.
00:15But I presume that they're here, at least in part, to stand up for D.C.'s right to spend its own money.
00:22The Senate already passed a bill to fix this.
00:25Can you tell them why we have not acted yet?
00:29I can't answer that. I support D.C. spending its own money.
00:32That has nothing to do with the legislation we're presenting today.
00:36But I've said publicly I believe Washington should spend their own money.
00:39And that was something that passed out of the Appropriations Committee.
00:43So it had nothing to do with the Oversight Committee.
00:45But I support Washington spending their own money.
00:49Well, that's good news. And since, you know, it's your conference that's holding this up,
00:53maybe you can, since you're, you know, you do a lot of, you focus a lot of attention on that.
00:58So you might be able to put in a good word to say you'll lose the money.
01:00I will.
01:01I will.
01:02I appreciate that.
01:03Chairman Comer, if the right to vote is a defining privilege of American citizenship,
01:08which I think you've said in the past, do you support granting the American citizens who live in D.C.
01:13voting representation in Congress?
01:15They have a delegate in Congress, Ms. Norton.
01:19She's on the Oversight Committee, a good member.
01:20But she doesn't have the same influence that everyone else does in terms of her ability to vote on things.
01:27I mean, she's a, her vote counts on the Oversight Committee as much as everyone else.
01:31That's what I'm here to speak on is the Oversight Committee.
01:34She's a member in good standing on the Oversight Committee.
01:37So would you favor me giving you the same power she has and, you know, putting you in that category?
01:43That has nothing, with all due respect, has nothing to do with the legislation we're, we're doing today.
01:48Well, if, if allowing noncitizens to vote undermines the voice of D.C. residents, does Congress repealing a law enacted by locally elected D.C. government undermine the voice of D.C. residents?
01:59I don't think that has anything to do with the legislation where we're saying illegal aliens can vote in local elections.
02:09Yeah, well, I mean, Los Angeles has nothing to do with what we're talking about here today.
02:13And, and that was the, you know, and the chair of this committee opened up with comments on that.
02:19And, and others have talked about that as well.
02:22Representative Lynch, what are your thoughts, thoughts on, on noncitizen voting?
02:28Well, consistent with the D.C. Home Rule Act passed in 1973, the, the, the chair is correct that constitutionally,
02:38it gives Congress the ability to delegate certain, certain subject matter, certain affairs at the local level to the District of Columbia leadership, the, the mayor and council.
02:56They've done that in the 1973 Home Rule Act.
03:00It was a partial grant of, of, of jurisdiction and of Home Rule.
03:07But in that legislation, it, it, it has a bright line distinction between local affairs and, and affairs that Congress retained at the federal level on federal matters.
03:21These matters that are addressed in the, including voting in local elections is clearly within, within the area of local control.
03:31And so that, that, that has been granted to the District of Columbia and they should retain it.
03:37They have that, they have that, they have that right under law.
03:41Congress made that grant.
03:42They, the, the, the, the local council has not gone beyond their, their writ in terms of dealing with local issues.
03:52So, uh, their, their, their, their preferences at the local level should stand.
03:57Chairman McCormick, is violent crime rising in D.C. this year?
04:02I'm sorry.
04:03Is violent crime rising in D.C. this year?
04:05Uh, it's, it seems like it is.
04:08But do you know?
04:10Well, from the information I received, it, it is.
04:13Well, the information I'm receiving says violent crime in D.C. is down 22% compared to the same period.
04:19Uh, I, I can tell you this, most of my staff and, uh, the people that, my constituents that come to Washington D.C.
04:24are afraid to walk around at night because of the violent crime.
04:26That's right, he was listening to you testify.
04:28But last year, violent crime in D.C. reached an, uh, an over 30-year low.
04:32So, um, you know, again, it goes back to what I said before is why it's so important to release the money that, uh, Congress is withholding from D.C.
04:39Uh, HR 2096, the Protecting Our Nation's Capital Emergency Act, would repeal provisions of a recent local D.C. law
04:47that made it easier for the police department to fire officers for crimes and other serious misconduct.
04:53Ranking Member Lynch, did all the D.C. police chiefs dating back at least 25 years support the department getting this increased authority?
05:01Absolutely. There, there have been, uh, I've been on this committee for 24 years.
05:05And we've had a number of, of, uh, uh, police chiefs during, during testimony, before the committee, asked to, to retain or obtain, uh, that very power.
05:16So that's something that the local D.C., uh, police chief has requested of this committee.
05:22And I'm gonna ask you to enter into the record a letter from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser opposing H.R. 2096.
05:29Uh, the mayor said that H.R. 2096 would, quote, reverse common sense disciplinary reforms adopted by the district
05:36to the sole benefit of those few Metropolitan Police Department officers who engage in egregious, sometimes criminal misconduct
05:43and seek to evade accountability, close quote.
05:48Without objection, is that okay? Yeah.
05:51Without objection.
05:52And just the final thing I want to say, um, I don't think we should be referring to the District of Columbia as property.
05:58Uh, that, that, that, like, that's like a throwback to, uh, an era in this country that I think we all look at with, with great shame.
06:07Uh, and, um, and I'm, I for one believe that, uh, the, uh, the, uh, hardworking people of the District of Columbia who pay their taxes,
06:16uh, like everybody else in this country, uh, deserve a hell of a lot better than they're getting.
