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Several Democratic lawmakers are pushing a joint resolution that aims to put the kibosh on President Donald Trump’s move this week to leverage the services of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department as he tries to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital.
The resolution reads, in part, “Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That pursuant to section 740(b) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act … the emergency determined by the President on August 11, 2025, in the Executive Order titled ‘Declaring a crime emergency in the District of Columbia’ is hereby terminated.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson sounded off in a statement emailed to Fox News Digital.
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“President Trump is taking bold action to address the out-of-control crime that has been plaguing Washington D.C. for far too long. But instead of supporting what should be a bipartisan measure to Make DC Safe Again, Democrats are burying their heads in the sand, denying there is a problem, and carrying the torch for dangerous criminals that terrorize DC communities,” Jackson asserted.
“DC residents know the reality on the ground – crime was out of control and President Trump’s actions are making the city safer. The left’s refusal to support widely popular issues with the American public – like stopping violent crime – are why their approval ratings are at historic lows and will continue to tank,” she added.
The House Democrats introducing the joint resolution include Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Robert Garcia of California, and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia, while Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., will introduce it in the upper chamber, according to a House Judiciary Committee Democrats press release.
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“Trump has made clear that his efforts in D.C., where 700,000 taxpaying American citizens lack the protections of statehood, are part of a broader plan to militarize and federalize the streets of cities around America whose citizens voted against him. The legislation we are introducing today would stop this campaign by ending Trump’s hostile takeover of D.C.’s police force,” Raskin said, according to the press release.
“Under the D.C. Home Rule Act, Congress has given the president the power only to direct the Mayor to make the Metropolitan Police Department available for a specific federal purpose but has given him no power simply to take over the Department. In any event, there is no federal emergency justifying such a takeover even if Congress sought to use its lawmaking power to effectuate it,” he asserted.
Part of the joint resolution asserts that the president did not point out emergency conditions that compel utilization of the police for federal purposes in D.C.
In the executive order issued this week, the president declared, in part, “I determine that special conditions of an emergency nature exist that require the use of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (Metropolitan Police force) for Federal purposes … ”
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The order notes, “Effective immediately, the Mayor of the District of Columbia (Mayor) shall provide the services of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes for the maximum period permitted under section 740 of the Home Rule Act.”
The Home Rule Act that the president cited in his order notes that the police services for federal purposes will terminate if Congress enacts a joint resolution to provide for that termination.
“Subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, such services made available in accordance with subsection (a) of this section shall terminate upon the end of such emergency, the expiration of a period of thirty days following the date on which such services are first made available, or the enactment into law of a joint resolution by the Congress providing for such termination, whichever first occurs,” a portion of the pertinent provision in the Home Rule Act reads.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report
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