On Monday, President Joe Biden signed a resolution blocking a Washington, D.C., crime bill that would have lightened penalties for crimes such as carjackings and burglaries.
After a bipartisan coalition in the House voted to block the bill, D.C. Council chairman Phil Mendelson attempted to pull it from congressional consideration before the Senate could act. Members of the upper chamber were not impressed by this maneuvering and held a vote to quash the bill earlier this month, rebuking the D.C. Council 81-14.
Most Democratic Senators joined Republicans in voting down the bill and 31 Democrats did so in the House. Biden tweeted before the Senate acted that he supported the disapproval resolution: “If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did — I’ll sign it.”
The D.C. Council had pushed through the bill over D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser’s objections. Biden aligned himself with the mayor, saying he doesn’t support lowering penalties for carjackings.
Some Democrats criticized Biden for backing the resolution while claiming to support D.C. statehood and home rule.
The president is widely expected to announce his reelection campaign shortly and has recently taken steps to appear more moderate on a number of issues, such as energy.
Biden also made final decisions Monday on two other high-profile measures that had been sent to his desk. He issued his first veto on a resolution that would have prohibited retirement-plan fiduciaries from considering environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors when making decisions on behalf of retirees.
“This bill would risk your retirement savings by making it illegal to consider risk factors MAGA House Republicans don’t like,” tweeted Biden, despite the fact the resolution gained Democratic support in both chambers.
The president signed a separate bill that authorizes the federal government to declassify all available intelligence pertaining to the origins of Covid.
Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), who sponsored it, celebrated the move in a statement, saying: “Let the people see for themselves!”