Members of the Ohio National Guard patrol the National Mall Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Washington. [AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana]
On September 10, 14 bills were considered by the Republican Party-led House Oversight and Government Committee. Collectively, they sought to advance police state measures in the District of Columbia. The various laws, several of which have already been adopted by the full House, increase punitive measures against convicted and indicted persons, the criminalization of the homeless, the erosion of “home rule” in the District of Columbia, expanded powers for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and increased funding for D.C.-area private schools.
The laws serve as a test run for wider repression of the American working class as a whole.
Among the first laws adopted was House Resolution 5140, or the Juvenile Sentencing Reform Act. This bill lowers the age at which a juvenile may be tried as an adult for a serious crime to 14. Under current D.C. law, youths are tried as juveniles in family court if under 18 years old, or 16 if charged with a serious crime. The measure passed the House 225–203, with eight Democrats joining and all but one Republican in favor.
The “DC CRIMES Act” strips the D.C. Council of authority to change sentencing laws. It lowers the maximum age for youth offender status from 25 to 18 and repeals provisions allowing D.C. courts to impose sentences below mandatory minimums. It passed the House 240–179, with 31 Democrats siding with all but one Republican.
The District of Columbia Policing Protection Act of 2025 repeals restrictions placed by D.C.’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022, which had limited MPD vehicle pursuits to extreme circumstances. Instead, it requires police to pursue suspects unless “(1) such pursuit would be futile, (2) the pursuit would entail an unacceptable risk of harm to a person other than the suspect, or (3) the suspect can be apprehended more effectively or expeditiously by other means,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
Such provisions invite reckless chases. A notorious case was the death of Karon Hylton-Brown on October 23, 2020. He was killed when an unmarked MPD car pursued him for riding a moped without a helmet, a minor traffic infraction. The pursuit ended when police cut him off, causing him to collide with another vehicle. He was thrown from his moped, suffered severe brain injuries and later died.
The officers involved, Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky, attempted to cover up the chase. They were convicted of obstruction of justice and conspiracy in September 2024, and sentenced to 5½ and 4½ years, respectively, before being pardoned by President Trump just four months later. Both men later received hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay from the MPD.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Park Police, bolstered during Trump’s “emergency” enforcement surge in August, ignored D.C. law and carried out vehicular pursuits for non-violent offenses. Between August 11 and September 25, 22 pursuits occurred, 18 of which ended in collisions—including several involving multiple vehicles—and one case in which a minor was found in the back seat. The bill passed the House 245–182, with 29 Democrats crossing party lines to vote yes.
The District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Reform Act amends the Home Rule Act by dissolving the seven-member Judicial Nomination Commission and granting the executive branch authority to appoint judges to D.C.’s Superior Court and Court of Appeals.
Representative Pete Sessions (Republican–Texas) made clear the partisan intentions in a column for East Texas News, writing: “The D.C. courts must be equipped to do their job: hold criminals accountable. … By filling court vacancies swiftly, we can ensure that criminals receive justice.” The measure passed along strict party lines, 218–211.
The raft of right-wing legislation came one month after Donald Trump invoked Section 740 of the Washington, D.C. Home Rule Act, which allows the president to assume control of the MPD during “conditions of an emergency nature.” The move effectively federalized D.C. for 30 days, during which the National Guard and ICE agents were deployed to supplement local police. The supposed “emergency” was a supposed crime wave in Washington, despite a documented decline in overall crime rates in recent years.
The Democratic Party, far from opposing these measures or alerting the working class to their dangers, has actively helped advance some of the most draconian proposals.
Many familiar faces appear in the roll calls for these four bills. A growing right-wing faction within the Democratic Party—what the World Socialist Web Site has described as the “CIA Democrats”—aligned with the Republicans during these votes, seeking to advance the interests of American imperialism by collaborating with Trump’s assault on the working class.
Among the Democrats in support of the bills were Eugene Vindman (Virginia), Jared Golden (Maine), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Laura Gillen (New York), Donald Davis (North Carolina), Susie Lee (Nevada), Dave Min (California), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Washington).
Several key figures: Vindman, Davis and Golden are among the “CIA Democrats,” figures with national security careers operating now as elected legislators.
Vindman was a central figure in Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, having leaked information revealing the president’s efforts to muscle the Ukrainian government in exchange for damaging information on Joe Biden, his political rival. In 2024, the Washington Post and other influential publications endorsed Vindman in his election, referring to him as “a defender of democratic norms and a check against extremism.”
For her part, D.C. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser expressed irritation at depictions of the District as a high-crime city following a September 18 Oversight Committee hearing, but she raised no objections to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard, calling it an opportunity to “accelerate” crime reduction efforts. Her only concern was the method, preferring federal partnership in expanding MPD hiring.
Bowser, as she has on many occasions, upheld the drive for “law and order,” endorsing Trump’s policies on policing while offering little resistance to federal crackdowns on both workers and the homeless. The House hearing was, in essence, political theater—the two parties bickering over appearances while aligned in substance.
During the hearing, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton read an open letter signed by statehood advocates. Bowser also criticized provisions of the Home Rule Act, including the president’s unilateral emergency powers, D.C.’s lack of control over the National Guard, and prohibitions on using taxpayer funds for measures such as MPD pay raises.
Yet calls for statehood function primarily as political cover for the Democrats governing D.C., who pursue right‑wing, pro-business policies regardless.
The record is clear: the Democratic Party-dominated D.C. Council itself unanimously passed the draconian “Secure DC” omnibus crime bill in March 2024, 12–0. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, endorsed by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America during the prior election, voted for it. Trayon White, the sole council member to abstain, voting “present,” had earlier called for National Guard deployment during a violent crime wave in August 2023.
Other council members who had shown even mild opposition, such as Democrat Brianne Nadeau—who nonetheless supported “Secure DC”—faced recall campaigns encouraged by Democratic operatives.
Meanwhile, business interests remain well represented. On September 17, the Council approved an agreement granting the Washington Commanders NFL franchise $1 billion in taxpayer funding and $1 billion in tax breaks to facilitate moving the team from Landover, Maryland, in the northern suburbs of Washington, into a new stadium at the site of the former RFK Stadium. The measure passed 11-2, including from the council’s supposed “left wing” and DSA-endorsed members, Janeese Lewis George, Zachary Parker and Matthew Frumin.
The council has arranged it so the NFL team will pay only $1 in rent for over 30 years as long as the project meets certain hiring requirements. Describing the Commanders deal, the Post wrote in August: “One way or another, the team is coming back because it is much more lucrative for the owners to be on this side of the D.C.-Maryland line, where they can control prime property surrounding their glitzy stadium for festivals and other entertainment, and will be able to develop and make money on a riverfront district where restaurants, retail and luxury housing will be constructed.”
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