The U.S. Senate on March 8 overwhelmingly approved a House-passed bill that would overturn a controversial District of Columbia crime law that critics have blasted as being soft on crime. The measure will next go to the desk of President Joe Biden, who’s said he wouldn’t veto the bill.
The chamber passed the measure in an 81–14 vote.
That law was initially vetoed by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, but the Council later overruled Bowser’s veto in a 12–1 vote.
Earlier this week, the D.C. Council member who introduced the revised criminal code said he plans to withdraw the measure amid the rising congressional backlash and after Biden said he wouldn’t veto the resolution if passed.
In a Democrat-controlled Senate that can rarely agree on much of anything, the resolution to overturn the crime law overwhelmingly passed the upper chamber, despite some Democrats’ efforts to paint the resolution as a kind of congressional colonialism.
Senators Who Voted Against the Resolution
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Sen. Maize Hirono (D-Hawaii) Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) Sen. Sanders (I-Vt.) Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)Present/No Vote
In addition to the “no” votes, five senators voted “present” or did not vote at all.Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) was the only senator to vote “present” on the measure.
The following four lawmakers did not cast a vote at all.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Dela.) Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho)
