Congresswoman McCollum Votes no on anti-D.C. Home Rule Legislation (H.R. 5214 and H.R. 5107)

Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives returned to work this week after a 43-day government shutdown and 55 days of recess in the House. And what pressing issues do the Republican Majority want to tackle first? Republicans want to waste more of the American people’s time by debating and overturning local laws of the District of Columbia. Republicans have decided that they know better than the residents of the District of Columbia what their local government needs.

Mr. Speaker, none of us ran for or were elected to serve as D.C. City Council members. I’ve been a city council member. It’s a very different job, with a direct line of responsibility to the residents who elect you to deal with everything from potholes to public safety. That local representation and local responsiveness is a key part of our democracy, and Republicans are proposing to strip that local self-governance away from the residents of the District of Columbia. 

All Members of Congress are sent here by our constituents to represent their interests, and to vote on matters of federal importance. We aren’t sent here to rule on specific local ordinances or decisions made by the cities and counties in any of our districts. Yet Republicans have brought two bills to the floor—H.R. 5214 and H.R. 5107—to do exactly that. They want to tell the District of Columbia’s 700,000 residents that the laws and policies they have voted for, and that were crafted by their local elected officials, are null and void. 

D.C. residents deserve the same right to govern themselves, as we enjoy in the Fourth District. That is why I urge my colleagues to reject H.R. 5107 and H.R. 5214 which would overturn judicial and policing reforms made by the D.C. City Council. Congress should never overstep the authority of the Saint Paul, Roseville, or Woodbury City Council in their efforts to enact police reform. Congress should never take away the judgement of duly elected Ramsey or Washington County judges. Today, I will vote to defend the rights of the residents of D.C.—as I would my own constituents—to ensure Republicans do not override these important reforms enacted by the D.C. City Council.

If Republicans want to take steps to address an issue of national importance, they can bring forward a bill that enforces it nationally. I will not vote for these attempts to decide those issues for a single district at the local level, whether in the District of Columbia or in the districts of any Member of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I respect the will of D.C. residents to shape their local government through their local elections, and that is why I will not support H.R. 5214 and H.R. 5107.

I yield back.