U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) has joined Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other Senate Republicans in introducing the CLEAN D.C. Act, a bill aimed at repealing the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 passed by the D.C. City Council.
Senator Britt cited concerns about crime in Washington, D.C., referencing a personal incident involving her staff: “In 2023, one of my staffers was carjacked and held at gunpoint, just one mile from our nation’s Capitol building. D.C.’s crime rate is higher than the national average and even higher than that of many capital cities in third-world countries. To put it simply, anyone who says D.C. doesn’t have a crime problem isn’t facing the facts,” she said.
She added, “I’m proud to join Senator Cruz and my Republican colleagues in cosponsoring the CLEAN D.C. Act, which builds on President Trump’s historic action to make D.C. beautiful and safe again by reversing the liberal D.C. City Council’s reckless 2022 law that lessens penalties for violent crimes.”
The 2022 law enacted by the D.C. City Council introduced changes such as banning certain police tactics, removing some legal protections for officers, authorizing public release of records related to policing activities, and setting new restrictions on protest policing and non-lethal crowd control methods.
Senator Cruz criticized these measures: “Violent crime has become endemic in Washington DC as a direct result of political and ideological decisions made by Democrats. Those decisions included passing and trying to lock in anti-police measures such as the Orwellian-named Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022, which undermined police morale, weakened officer retention, and contributed to a still-ongoing public safety disaster. The CLEAN D.C. Act will reverse that decision, and I call upon my colleagues in Congress to pass it.”
The legislation has received endorsements from both the D.C. Police Union and the Fraternal Order of Police.
Gregg Pemberton, Chairman of the D.C. Police Union representing 3,000 Metropolitan Police Department officers, stated: “The D.C. Police Union… expresses profound gratitude to Senator Ted Cruz for his steadfast leadership in introducing legislation to repeal the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Act, a misguided and harmful law that has plagued our city’s public safety since its enactment. This new repeal effort is a critical step toward restoring common-sense law enforcement in our Nation’s Capital… The Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Act has not reformed anything, it has enabled lawlessness, endangered officers and their families, and driven away the very professionals needed to keep D.C. safe. We urge all Senators to pass this repeal with the same bipartisan resolve shown in 2023, and we call on the President to sign it into law. Our city cannot afford another day of this failed experiment.”
Other senators cosponsoring this act include Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Ted Budd (R-N.C.).
