REPORT: House GOP Won’t Extend Trump’s 30-Day DC Takeover

The U.S. House of Representatives did not move to support President Donald Trump’s request seeking an extension of his control over Washington, D.C. beyond 30 days, a timeframe that ends next Wednesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said as he left the floor that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s recent order that her local police force would coordinate “indefinitely” with the federal government “resolved some of” the issues.

The decision resolves a standoff that was sure to take place in the Senate, where Democrats had vowed to hold the line in preventing further federal control over Washington. Strategically, it also removes a hot-button issue from debate while congressional Republicans seek to raise the debt ceiling without a government shutdown.

Senate Republicans are not expected to seek an extension of federal policing forces in the nation’s capital either, according to Politico.

Bowser on Wednesday called for an end to the federal takeover, which President Trump invoked under a 52-year-old law that grants the city largely self-policing powers. He cited high-profile instances of violent crime to suggest that Bowser and the Democratic-led city council weren’t doing enough to keep its residents safe.

“I want the message to be clear to the Congress: We have a framework to request or use federal resources in our city,” Bowser said. “We don’t need a presidential emergency.”

A flood of National Guard troops and FBI officers has resulted in plummeting crime numbers across the city, including the arrest of individuals carrying unregistered firearms and illicit drugs for sale. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also participated in citywide sweeps, nabbing illegal immigrants in the process.

The House could vote within weeks on other federal measures to control Washington, however.

The Oversight Committee is expected to take up a measure on Wednesday in response to youth crime in the city, the D.C. education system, and restrictions on law enforcement, according to a source who was granted anonymity to discuss the schedule.

Other bills under consideration include eliminating the D.C. attorney general’s office and replacing it with a presidential appointee. Other measures would extend the right of police officers to pursue getaway drivers and lower the age at which youth offenders may be charged as adults.

Johnson maintained on Thursday that a nationwide criminal reform bill was “on the table” this session. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said it remains “yet to be determined” what such a bill would look like.

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is said to be in preliminary talks with leaders from both chambers about the broad contours for legislation that would kick off the debate.

“My expectation is again that the House, the Senate, the speaker and I at some point will have that conversation,” Thune said. “Figure out exactly what [Trump] envisions that looking like and what we can accomplish and get through the Senate and the House.”