Crimes in d. C. Fall under feller under federal jurisdiction and prosecution that is unlike most cities in america. This hearing of the House Oversight and accountability is about three hours and 40 minutes. The committee on oversight accountability will come to order i want to welcome everyone here today. Without objection the chair may declare a recess at any time, the Committee Welcomes the public to the very important meeting. While youre here i want to point out to the members in the audience today that house rule 11 provides the chairman of the committee may punish breaches of order in the quorum including exclusion from the hearing. All participants will be required to avoid unruly behavior and inappropriate anguish, expression of support or opposition are not in order and that includes holding up signs, i expect all parties to the proceedings to connect themselves in a manner that reflects property on the u. S. House of representatives. I recognize myself or the purpose of making an Opening Statement. Under article one of the constitution, congress is a jurisdiction over the Nations Capital and the house rules charges committee to oversee the Municipal Affairs of the district of columbia. Wanted Nations Capital to be safe and prosperous. A city for the residents and districts alike. But our Nations Capital is declining by several metrics crime has gone to the roof. Education levels are on the floor. According to the d. C. Metropolitan Police DepartmentMotor Vehicle theft in the district have increased by 100 compared to this time last year. 57 of the carjackings are committed by juveniles. Total property crime is up 30 . Homicides are on track for the highest rate since 2003. This year alone we producing over 1500 Violent Crimes committed with a total crime up 27 from last year. Washington, d. C. Clearly has a crime crisis. At this committees march 29 hearing members of the d. C. Council refused to acknowledge this reality. The d. C. Council chairman Phil Middleton one as far as saying there is not a crime crisis in washington, d. C. The numbers speak for themselves in the american to visit the Nations Capital deserve to be safe. I am concerned about a lack of resources and funding for the metropolitan Police Department and officer retention and recruitment challenges. I am concerned the u. S. Attorney for the district of columbia which prosecutes local crimes in d. C. Decline to prosecute 67 of cases last year. The d. C. Council continued attempts to push soft on crime policies are emboldening criminals. Mayor bowser thankfully opposed many of the d. C. Councils reckless actions and rhetoric. The republicanled house has passed to joint resolutions for the soft on crime proposals from the council both of the joint resolution passed with bipartisan support. However, many of my democratic colleagues of this committee have actively cheered on the reckless actions and criticize congressional action to restore order. Hope this committee will come together for subsidy discussion on how to address our capital citys most pressing issues especially crime. Todays hearing will also address the crucial role that the mayor plays ensuring the best possible education for the districts shoulder pandemic policies and prolonged closures have huge drops in math and language for students across all grades of the policies have resulted in record level truancy. In 202248 qualified as chronically absent from school. 48 . Something needs to be done to turn the situation around. I look forward to Hearing Solutions today. Finally maximum telework has created huge financial strains on the district, downtown d. C. Has become a shadow of the former self. Mayor bowser has been vocal about the need for federal employees to return to office yet bustling street Simple Office buildings have been replaced by maximum telework leading to businesses leaving the district in a substantial loss of revenue predicted time in the postpaid debacle world to have our federal government workers returned to the Office Especially d. C. Offices to continue to serve the American People. I think the mayor and u. S. Attorney for appearing today as well as the chief and initiator donahue this is also National Police week i would like to send it additional thank you to the many women who police the streets of d. C. To take and to keep us safe in all offices across the country who serve their communities. I look forward to working with my colleagues and district leaders here today to achieve meaningful progress on the Critical Issues facing our Nations Capital. I now recognize Ranking Member for his opening remarks. Thank you very much mr. Chairman and forgive me were at a point when we have to ask why were doing this again. I wonder if secondguessing in washington, d. C. Is most urgent priority for the u. S. Congress today. I think a dozen things more urgently important to the American People started with outofcontrol gun violence that is taking thousands of lives and causing millions of people to live in fear and terror from kentucky to tennessee from georgia to california we had more Mass Shootings in 2023 then we had days and years so far. Another was a gun massacre not only with an ar15. Every single day and you assault weapons account for only 1 2 overall a firearm fatality in america. The vast whole from gun violence in our gun laws make america an outlier among industrialized nations in the world. You know the countries that foreign ministries have issued travel warnings to their citizens about the dangers of coming to america because of gun violence. Gun violence is not the leading cause of death for children under 18 surpassing car accidents, pediatric cancer in contagious diseases. And yet the Oversight Committee is not fit to call single hearing on why these massacres are increasing in our country or how we can Work Together effectively across party lines to stop this bloodbath. Nor if we held a hearing on the threat of a default which could plunge america into a deep recession, trash the stock market and cost are people millions of jobs the constitution does not allow any of this because section 4 of article four says the validity of the public debt shall not be question and our colleagues were content to raise the debt limit three times under President Trump who created 25 of all the debt accumulated between George Washington joe biden seeks to play a dangerous game with the full faith and credit of the United States. A nation up until this point never skipped its creditors in defaulted on top of nations. No hearings on that and we call no hearings on the war of freedom on america to ban textbooks, sensor and intimidate teachers, silent scientist, humiliate and cancel lgbt students and rewrite our textbooks to conform to the nationalist ideology to the republican senator publicly embraced just a few days ago, nor have we held a hearing on how the Dobbs Decision and the relentless attack on reproductive freedom is dramatically undermining the healthcare that millions of american women receive from, miscarriages to a topic presented pregnancies to postpartum hemorrhage in india major biopsy all of the treatments can involve the use of postal that are being treated like criminal contraband across the country. Womens health were a single hearing under these crisis conditions and we had a hearing on the assault on Voting Rights taking place. Instead we gather to hold a second hearing to micromanage the local affairs in washington, d. C. I fully expect some of her colleagues to announce her Kidney Disease for d. C. City council from where we sit or mayor of the district of columbia when this is all over or the advisory neighborhood commissioner. At least the people of washington would have some role in the performance art. I was watching President Trumps town hall meeting on cnn last week and i saw two remarkable things that clarified in my mind was happening. First i saw donald trump claim Vice President pence for stealing the election on januarn phys ed on january 6 he believed and continues to believe that mike pence did not have the courage to do what needed to be done. Moreover assured his cult followers that mike pence was never in a danger in all of the violence was mike pences own fault for not becoming the first Vice President in her history to step outside of his constitutional role and declare the president the winner against actual Electoral College vote. Thats what mike pence gets for not doing what he was told by donald trump. We also saw trump castigate and blame jean carol the woman he sexually abusing a Department Store and later lied about and defamed, trump called her a whack job and asked what kind of a woman meet somebody and within miniature plane hankypanky, he thinks its her fault that he sexually abused her. Watching the two glaring cases of the gop frontrunner for the nomination in 2024 blaming the victim for his crime made me see what happened with the hearings on washington. Theyre part of an effort to deny americans who live in washington the right to participate in Representative Government and to blame them for their own disenfranchisement and their own lack of representation in congress. Nearly 700,000 u. S. Citizens live in d. C. They pay more taxes per capita than the residents of the 50 states they fought in every u. S. War third draft ebola and subject to all the laws of the country and against all odds without the power to select their own judges or prosecutors or make their own budgets without outside interference, they made Real Progress in their community over the decades, they have nonviolently petition for statehood the way 37 states have done it in our history but they have no voting representation, they are locked out of the normal processes of congressional representation. And yet when violent insurrection is attacked this body on january 6, 2021. A Beautiful Day according to President Trump the people of washington as Capital Police officers and metropolitan Police Department officers and staffers in citizens and local officials like mayor bowser rally to the defense of the congress and the republic in the very institutions that lock the mountain. Local residents and leaders stood up to defend us in the Vice President against the rampaging mob that stormed the government in the name of the big lie with the explicit goal of toppling and stealing a president ial election for their service and sacrifice washingtonians must endure lectures for their unfitness of democracy and other peoples representatives who confuse the act of seditious conspiracy with tourism and call the convicted assailants of american Police Officers political prisoners. For colleagues choose to ignore the state a petition of the people of washington. Theres not much we can do about the moral indifference and contempt for other americans rights. At least spare everyone, at least spare everyone the trump spectacle of blaming the victims their own disenfranchisement and lack of fully comprehensive government is an insult to washington is an embarrassment to congress in a shocking waste of time i want to think the mayor and the u. S. Attorney for appearing here today in a want to think the people of washington for nonviolently attacking Congress Even though you have a legitimate political agreement as to an imaginary one, you exercise your rights under the first and the ninth two petition for statehood omission and we salute your patriotic defense of the constitution and this body in your embrace of nonviolent chains, thank you, mr. Chairman i yield back. I must admit when you were referencing i thought you were going to refer to the Durham Report but you never did. Im pleased to introduce our witnesses today, first we have mayor Muriel Bowser was mayor of washington, d. C. Since 2015 and reelected last year to serve a third term in office the chief executive of the district of columbia overseen city life and Government Operations, the District Economic development in the d. C. Police among other critical matters shes joined by two d. C. Officials robert j the third has served as chief at the metropolitan Police Department mpd since early 2021 he is a native of the district that is spent his career serving the mpd, thank you for your service. Kevin donahue the city administrator by the district of columbia by mayor bowser in 2021. In this role mr. Donahue State Government operations and finally Matthew Graves serves as district columbia and has served since he was confirmed in november 2021. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses regarding the district of columbia in their efforts to ensure our Nations Capital as a safe and wellmanaged place for all. Pursuant to Committee Role nine g the witnesses will stand and raise their right hands. You solemnly swear the truth is nothing but the truth so help you god. But the record show they all answered in the affirmative. We appreciate all of you been here today and look forward to your testimony let me remind the witnesses that we have read your written statements and they will appear and pull the record please limit your oral statements to five minutes as a reminder to push the button to the microphone so its on and the members can hear you when you begin to speak about in front of you will begin to turn green after four minutes the light will turn yellow and when the red light comes on your time is expired and we ask that you wrap up. I reckon as mr. Donahue, i recognize mayor bowser. Thank you mayor. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you Ranking Member raskin i would recognize my congresswoman and all members of the committee i am Muriel Bowser mayor of washington, d. C. Im joined by the chief of Police Robert contee in the city administrator kevin donahue. A lot has been said about washington, d. C. Over the past weeks and months. As someone who was born and raised in served in Elective Office since 2005 i daresay i know more than most. I would like to start by sharing a little bit of my story and also setting the record straight. I am over the d. C. Home role by one year. As it was born into it did not have an elected mayor or an elected council. The residents of d. C. Had no elective representation except for school board, the d. C. My parents were born into, they could not even vote for president , despite my father serving 20 years in the u. S. Army reserve committed to protecting americas democracy. My father is one example of the indignities that residents have suffered but he is not alone. When i was one years old in 1973 Congress Passed the d. C. Home role act created the local government while retaining Congress Power to overrule local legislation. Today we have elected mayor 13 Member Council in attorney general but we lack voting representation in congress. But you have the power to fix this through the d. C. Statehood. Since achieving home role we made significant strides to moving d. C. Forward. I am proud to say with confidence. The state of our finances are strong in the state of the district is strong when a process of passing the budget i sent them with no new taxes or fees and one that reflects the sober reality of our time declining revenue due to decreases in remote work and increased cost due to inflation. Still were a donor state and we give more to the federal government then we get back in our finances continue to be the envy of jurisdictions around the nation. We got here through a long history of balanced budget in clean audit. In january of 2020 we achieve 60 days cash on hand in over 20 years d. C. Went from junkbond status to having a aaa bond rating. We did all of this with one hand tied behind her back, congresswoman with novo in the house and no representation in the senate at all. You see we are not actually a city, not quite estate. Were not a colony or territory. We are 700,000 disenfranchised americans living in the shadow of the capital with all the responsibilities of citizenship. And like every big city mayor in america i tackle bigcity challenges all day every day. I use every tool in your toolbox to address the most among social problems troubling america. American cities and towns alike. Gun violence being taught among them. No one can be satisfied with increasing crime trends in any category. I certainly am not. In d. C. Like whats happening around her country we experienced some concerning increases in crime. We see more illegal guns on our street and more repeat violent offenders using them. Those guns are being used in Violent Crimes and carjackings and we have also seen an increase in car theft. For me the trends are unacceptable and we do not accept this as a new normal. To understand our response you also have to understand her criminal Justice System which is unique. Mpd makes the rest most adult cases are prosecuted by the u. S. Attorney for d. C. He was of course d. O. J. They are prosecuted by our locally elected attorney general and committed to the youth and Rehabilitation Services but the youth and adult offenders are supervised by the court and federal agency. D. C. Jail is local but a majority of our residents who are serving time are federal facilities across the country. Judges is appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate. I wont be making any excuses here, i am the mayor and are responsible for making this very complicated unique system work for my residents, businesses and all americans. That is why i authorize the chief any overtime that he deems necessary for mpd, we launched regional federal partnership. I created an office of neighborhood safety and engagement, just yesterday i announce the package of legislation that will enhance penalties for Violent Crime, provide greater discretion for the courts and to determine who should be held pretrial and to modify Early Release laws to ensure the voices of victims in the judgment of the courts are not thrown by the wayside. This legislation coupled with my 2024 budget investment will help fill gaps in our whole of government approach. Wrapping up mr. Chairman. We know that the police in our system and all of local officials across the country could also use your help. We know access to firearms is a National Problem and we need common sense gun reform. We also need the congress to give control of the d. C. National guard. We welcome your partnership through nonpublic Safety Initiatives as well in working with her congresswoman to help give more d. C. Residents a fair shot by doubling the scholarship to 20000 in making you d. C. Tag eligible treaty can help us with Washington Union station and the plan for federal workers back downtown and deliver a plan for repurposing underutilized federal spaces, we can Work Together to reimagine the rfk campus can help us shape the future for sports in a mix of uses including housing and jobs. Let me end by saying this i know all of us here today wont see i on every issue but we can all agree on the promise of america that are government should be for the people by the people. And i assure you there was no one here that cares more about Public Safety then we do. My family of five generations d. C. In the next one is growing. Today is my daughters birthday and embracing her to be a life long washingtonian. It is my number one priority to ensure that washington, d. C. Is a place where all of her children can grow up safely. Enjoy their full rights as american citizens and where they can live up to their godgiven potential. I hope he actions taken by this committee will advance that vision. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much mayor and let me make this point there will be to open statements all four witnesses will be available to answer questions. Now the chair recognizes the honorable mr. Grace. Thank you good morning mr. Chairman, Ranking Member raskin, my Representatives Congress member norton and the rest of the committee i am audit to be here today to discuss the Public Safety of the United StatesAttorneys Office of the district of columbia and the dedicated men and women who work tirelessly to prosecute crime in the office. Our office is unique among the United StatesAttorneys Office because we prosecute federal crime and most local crime committed by adults in the district of columbia. We have a dedicated and talented team of prosecutors, victim advocates who have a deep commitment to seeking justice. They have worked diligently for unprecedented crisis since marc. Despite these crises they have been able to secure for then 1300 felony indictments for violations of the district of columbia law no more than 3100 guilty pleas and violations for district wall during the timeframe. Im deeply proud of them and feel privileged to rejoin prater superior Court Division for the prosecution of violation of district of columbia criminal law. It has roughly 170 United States attorneys and approximately 60 professional staff. Since being sworn into office i increase the number of prosecutors in the division by approximately 10 . The prosecutors are in court and the grand jury almost every day in the Division Takes hundreds of cases to trial each year. Unfortunately its not been immune from what many parts of the country are expressing the devastating proliferation of illegal firearms in increases in certain types of Violent Crime while most violent felonies remain at historically low levels the number of shootings in homicides in the district began increasing in 2018, carjackings more than doubled during the course of the pandemic while we understand dealing with issues requires a whole government response and we recognize the prosecution is an important part of that response. Our office is focused on partnering with Law Enforcement in the community to combat the surge of shootings in homicide we know a small percentage of individuals are driving substantial portion of the violence in our community in much of the communitybased gun violence is focused on a few discrete areas of the district. We focused our investigative resources on those areas. Weve seen the strategy reduces various Violent Crime metrics including calls for sounds of gunshots and instance of Violent Crime we have complete by another strategy, mpd, federal Law Enforcement in our office have all dedicated officers, agents and prosecutors in support of these efforts. With respect to Violent Crime in fiscal year 2022 our office charged 90 of all the rest for the serious Violent Crimes. These numbers will prosecute every Violent Crime that we believe on a reasonable doubt at trial that has been and will continue to be the policy in the priority of the Office Despite charging 90 of arrest for the most serious Violent Crimes the number and percentage of cases began increasing yearoveryear in fiscal year 2018. The decrease accelerated as the office simultaneously managed to covid19 pandemic in the d. C. Department of loss of accreditation. Were past the worst of these challenges. We already see the calendar year 2023 charging rates are higher than fiscal year 2022 rates. The decrease in number of cases that we charged was largely driven by your treatment of nonviolent misdemeanor offenses such as unlawful entry and drug possession and because of the crimes greatly impact the quality of life of her fellow Community Members we are committed to prosecuting these crimes in a way that reduces their negative impact on the community and tries to address the Substance Abuse the drive these crimes in the strategy for addressing gun violence in carjackings. Mr. Chairman mr. Ranking member and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to be here today no shortage of important work in our office including prosecuting acts of International Terrorism and disrupting the foreign influence schemes but nothing is more important with our Community Members than the work that we do to address Violent Crime and happy to answer any questions you may have. Of one thing the witnesses for the Opening Statement will proceed with the questionandanswer portion of her testimony and ill begin let me say the mayor and i met last week in a positive meeting where i pledged that this committee would work with her to do anything that we could to advance washington, d. C. And i know from talking to mayor bowser she agrees tackling the issue of crime is a priority for her resident and i know she felt proposed legislation in your Opening Statement called the safer, stronger Amendment Act which would amend several provisions of the d. C. Criminal law. Mayor you had differences of opinion with the d. C. Council when it comes to reducing crime. What are the differences in tween your approach and your councils. Mr. Chairman i will say in and prodded been elected three times as mayor i served on the council of the district of columbia prior to that for almost eight years in a very much respect the role that each branch of our government plays. My job is to let the people the district of columbia and the council know what we need. I rely on professionals and Public Safety or education or Human Services who do their job day in and day out and to advance the things that we need. Our approach and i think the similarities with the council is to make sure we have a comprehensive approach to crime that the justice enforcement, opportunity and prevention and we continue to do that. And remember and we will all make sure d. C. Residents and members know what the professionals say that we need. Do you agree especially the case of violent criminals is important to include prosecution and jail time with appropriate. Are you concerned of a high number of decline for individuals by the metropolitan Police Department. I know the metropolitan Police Department in our entire criminal Justice System as described is a complicated soup. Some locals that report directly to me like the chief of police and some elected like the attorney district and the attorney counsel in the court. Were all working together. One of the chief prosecutors and the submission. Do you also believe that there be consequent is after an arrest to include prosecution and jail time were appropriate for violent offenses. Of a career prosecutor protecting the safety of the community as our number one mission. Absolutely agree with that statement. Its been reported for d. C. That you oversee to prosecute 67 of individuals arrested for d. C. Crimes in 2022, is accurate. Innkeeper the question a little bit of context. As i said in my Opening Statement in fiscal year 2022p prosecuted over 90 of the arrest for the most serious Violent Crimes fiscal year 2022 which is a snapshot in time is unique year with a lot going on in the complicated soup that the mayor refers to but i report are charging rates are higher and trending upwards. The 67 is nearly double the 35 rate from 2015 units much higher than the rate for many metropolitan areas. Im sure you would point to many reasons for this discrepancy but what i want to know what you plan to do to ensure your office can accept more cases for prosecution after interest or d. C. Offenses. Thats a great question. Were focused on where we are now and what happened in the past with respect to what happened in the past, the declination rate the cases that we were charging you see increasing from 2016 the fiscal year 26 team through fiscal year 2022 yearoveryear there are complicated reasons for why that is occurring on focused on what we can do to address that and driving down rates. Mayor bowser ayala was 17 committees of our committee to return to their prepandemic levels with respect to telework. Do you support the idea that federal workers should once again return to work. I absolutely support that. I think we can look at the district government as a guide. We all experience the pandemic and the necessary changes to work, life and personal life that went along with it. In addition to answer your questions here part of my daytoday job as mayor of washington, d. C. Is managing 37000 employees. While we had modified operations, 40 of our employees were never eligible for telework, the men and women of the metropolitan Police Department and fire and ems or Public School teachers who went into classrooms. Every day of the pandemic or soon after we reopen. I reopen d. C. Government in june of 21 following march the previous march were covid really changed our lives around the world. We have made some allowances of course. We have more telework than we did before the pandemic, i require the agencies that report to me to show up three days a week. Thank you, mayor. The chair recognizes ms. Norton for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. 37 states have been admitted to the union since the adoption of the constitution. All had been admitted by a simple legislation none were admitted by constitutional limit. Congress has previously offered the boundaries of the Federal District also known as d. C. Included reducing its size by 30 in 1846 when democrats lost control the house of representatives the house twice past the d. C. Statehood bill which wouldve admitted the state of washington douglas commonwealth and reduce the size of a Federal District. The state would have consisted of 66 of the 68 square miles of the current Federal District. The Federal District which wouldve remained under Congress Control would have consisted of the other 2 miles. The constitution submission clause commits to congress the power to admit do states. The constitution district clause gives congress authority over the Federal District. Last congress during consideration of the d. C. Statehood bill, dozens of leading constitutional scholars including lawrence, the preeminent constitutional scholar of the last 50 years said in a letter to congress, there is no constitutional barrier to admitting the state of washington of the commonwealth its clear that congress has the authority to admit the state of the commonwealth republicans have turned to experience objectives. They say d. C. Does not have the right types of establishments like Car Dealerships or the right types of industry like mining or logging elects to many democrats. We have even heard dog whistles one republican senator infamously said the majority of black and brown would be, would not be a wellrounded workingclass state weve seen principal and extraconstitutional arguments interposition to the admission of new states before. Each state, each future state eventually overcame them. In 201686 of d. C. Voters voted in favor of d. C. Statehood. Mayor browser why do you think the referendum received such overwhelming support. Thats a great question congresswoman. We worked very hard and you worked very hard to demonstrate with the people washington, d. C. Why we do everything were asked to as american citizens and how we function as a state in most regards. How we run a City Government financial structure that would make most jurisdictions proud. Yet, were here, we look at the capital, we see congresspeople. Were involved in national discussion. Yet we have noble and is unconscionable. I think the d. C. Resident engine residents also recognize. Not only do we lack representation but we lack full autonomy. We see for example laws that have been passed duly by our elected officials admittedly i have not agreed with all of them but i do agree with the right of the legislature to make the laws that it chooses. I think people have also seen the federal government trample on us, take over our street, send troops with aircraft to hover over us. That is for lack of autonomy and it can only be addressed by statehood. You rightly point out that a simple legislation approved by the congress could make us a state like 37 other states that have been admitted to the great union. You also rightly point out that the constitution doesnt concluded. You also rightly point out that the arguments that have been made have been exposed as partisan optimist. For us statehood is not a red state or blue state question. Its a question about how do we perfect or democracy by ensuring 700,000 people who are americans just like you enjoy full citizenship in our country. Thank you, mayor bowser. The chair recognizes mr. Kosar for five minutes. Thank you for your your attitude the buck stops with you kudos, great attitude. A question for you are you keeping track of the number of children in washington, d. C. Who have contracted myocarditis as a covid19 vaccine. I know we track a lot of information but im not sure on that specifically. Is a very debilitating condition and i would love to know the steps that youve taken and how youve ascertained those individuals. We have a very sophisticated system of reporting to the d. C. Health. If you dont mind ill take a moment to acknowledge the heroic efforts of d. C. Health and to keep washingtonians and children safe. Thank you. In the days preceding genuine 62021 the intelligence that had access to indicate a large amount of violence would occur that day. We reported all the information that weve been asked for related to january 6 including any and all intelligence we were aware of. Did you contact the officer of the speaker the sgt of arms or any federal Enforcement Agency of potential violence on january 6. Im going to ask the chief to jump in his or lead official in working with federal partners under first Amendment Activities from the district. Thank you with conversations with Law Enforcement officials from the United StatesCapitol Police house and senate sgt of arms prior to january 6. Anything with the Speakers Office. I have no conversations with the Speakers Office, i believe the architect of the capitol is involved in the conversations but i dont recall specifically the Speakers Office being a part of the conversation. Over a thousand people from january 6, 2021 have been charged with federal crimes. Publicly he says he wants to charge 1200 more, attorney graves how many from the sum of 2020 are you investigating and prosecuting for criminal offense. Thank you for the question, our office prosecutes all acts of violence regardless of political motivation, the same or prosecuting a number of individuals and connections with the incidence of the summer of 2020. Go through that going back to the chief how many total people were arrested during the riots of 2020 . In washington, d. C. What are you referring to. I want to know how many people arrested during the riots of 2020 and washington, d. C. Im not sure what incidents you are referring to are you referring to the instances on lafayette square. For example on june 1 there were 316 people arrested in one day on august 1 and 13th and 14th of 202041 people arrested in washington, d. C. With writing, arson, assault on police officer. Audit. Chiefly of the information. Between may and june of 202149 people were arrested, july of 2020, 22 people were arrested september of 202041 people were arrested at that time and between november and december, 23 people were arrested. According to the Washington Post prosecutors dismissed charges on almost all of those except for a handful in august of 2020. Can you go through those charges and when they were dropped. I understand the question. Complication i was at the u. S. Attorney at that time. It does not matter. As the mayor said she accepts total responsibility and you carry the person to cut the responsible lisa mckay example responsible deeper every thing the office does i only lacked personal knowledge but my understanding is the office decline and number that were presented under the leadership of the prior administration. Im running out of time i will yield back. The gentleman yields back the chair recognizes mrs. Soulmate for five minutes. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. Mayor browser thank you for your testimony. It was distinct and very, very comprehensive and although you probably said much of that many times over its important for this committee and others watching this to herein. People have a twisted idea of what the district of columbia is. Anytime we can set the record straight i appreciate it i appreciate your words today. Thank you also for your testimony. On december 16, 1773. The Boston Tea Party took place. It was by and large a protest against taxation without representation. 250 years ago based on a concept and a principle that i think many people still believe in and hopefully will follow in the day and age that we live in. It was not a democratic protest or a response was on a republican protest or response it was an american response to an injustice. An injustice that you hundred 50 years later still plagues our nation and part of the fabric that were trying to tear away from so everybodys vote count and everybodys vote will be counted and everybody that has lived and paid taxes will have some form of representation. The gentlewoman here from the district of columbia missed norton has carried the torch and waive the banner for many, many years and continues to do so. An injustice obviously is still one now. I know im the only member of this committee that voted for the d. C. Statehood in 1993 and 28 years later having returned to congress voted again and 2021. It was because we believed in it. Congressman who was serving many, many years ago led the protest that somebody participated so it pains my heart matter mayor that here we go again as we did a month or so ago trying as best as we can to make people understand the essence of your testimony in the essence of why taxation without representation is absolutely wrong. In a 2016 referendum. 86 of the residents of washington, d. C. Voted in favor of the d. C. Statehood, collectively as its been noted many, many times residents in the district of columbia pay more federal taxes than 22 other states. Thats not to be lost or laughed at, more taxes in this district and then 22 other states. The district of columbia as a matter of fact is financially healthy more than we can say about other cities throughout our nation. Three quarters of the revenue generated here is generated locally in the district has maintained 24 years of consecutive clean audits which i would challenge anybody to find the cities all over the country that are doing a and doing it repeatedly. The leadership as evidenced by the mayor and others is competent. People elect who they want thats how we all got here people elected us they wanted us for a particular time and when they dont they will get rid of us. The leadership is confident. In is been on the generate six insurrection it was the leadership here that promptly dispatched the metropolitan Police Department to help calm and restore the order of our Nations Capital even arriving ahead of the National Guard. I believe its very important whenever we can set the record straight, we do it the undemocratic meddling by some members of this committee on d. C. Matters in their particular interest to try to find a twist or a news item or soundbite does not advance the representation of the people who live here and love the district of columbia and work day in and day out to make it better because it is in fact the capital of the United States. Thank you, mr. Chairman i would yield back any remaining time i might have. The chair recognizes mrs. Groopman for five minutes. Thank you. The first question does not mean to be insulting i appreciate mayor browser that you had to take a new city council to fight the crime and i repeated the story in which i dont go abroad much but 20 years ago i was in taiwan under taiwan and acid tour guide if there was anywhere that we couldnt go into my surprise they said no everywhere is safe. The place is bigger than chicago and i felt a little bit of shame for a second because i knew if a visitor from taiwan came to the United States and saw washington, d. C. And asked me if theres anywhere that they could not go i wouldve had to of said yes quite a few places you cannot go in town. I appreciate you taking on your city on issues related to crime. Which means given the huge crime problem that youve had. A lot of members of the city counsel keep getting elected but dont agree that a certain action has to be taken. Could you explain why people get elected to the washington, d. C. Counsel. At least on the face of it it does not seem there electing people that are preventing crimes a top priority which i cant figure out . Ive learned over the years not to question the voters. As the congresswoman has said they elect to they want and my job is to work who the people send and that is how ive approached my work as mayor and as a member of the council. I do use my position to make sure him educating the public of what we need and whats not working. All give you five minutes. , i want to talk about your schools is pending 22000 per pupil which is one of the highest in the country, if you go down the test scores only 31 of your students read at or above grade level, 19 of your students pass grade level and math. With a High School Students alone only 11 are at grade level for math, by the way mr. Chairman i like to submit for the record the post article d. C. Math reading test scores and more than five years. Without objection so ordered. I understand kobe played a role but all that has passed. Mayor browser do you believe the d. C. Public schools is properly focused on ensuring kids reach grade Level Achievement . I could not be prouder of the progress that we have made in d. C. Public schools. In my submitted testimony i include more than 15 Year Investment we have made in transforming Public Schools. Given the test scores are you really satisfied with that. I know the urban School District we have excelled faster than most in the investments we continue to make for example in free prek for all three and four yearolds in the district of columbia is paying dividends the investments that were making and Reimagining High School and connecting our High School Graduates to advanced Technical Training is also pena them excited cut you off but i only get five minutes. My concern when i see record lows of math and reading of concern, nevertheless on the new standards receive the second graders will analyze the history of samesex sex. Third grades students will be taught the importance of affirming spaces in six grade, there to be dealing with racism. All of these types of things at a time when reading and math seems to be a big problem. Have a copy of the curriculum i would like to submit for the record. Without objection to order. Ms. Bowser, mayor bowser is having third grade students learn about the importance of affirming spaces approve the ability to read at grade level. What i know as a d. C. Public School Parent i want my child to grow well as an informed world citizen. Of course knowing how to read and write in knowing how to enjoy all the people of the world and the culture of the world and being able to actively participate in our government. Im very confident. Focusing on the peripheral issues. I think her system of Public Education where we have an elected state board of education that advises on policy and curriculum in a Public Education team that has been innovative and thats why we see the results that we have seen growing and certainly none of us across the country are happy to see her kids fall back across the country during the covid years but we know how stressful they are but with very significant investments from the American Rescue plan weve been able to focus on highdose tutoring, Improvement Strategies that will improve our test scores. Hopefully things will be better offer my friends in taiwan, thank you. The gentleman yields back the chairman recognizes the Ranking Member mr. Rosman. Mayor bowser i want to thank you for immediately deploying the metropolitan Police Department on january 6, 2021 to come and defend us against the violent insurrection that took place. You said hundreds of officers who stood shoulder to shoulder with the Capital Police, many were injured in the process suffering terrible injuries and hospitalized because of it. In some d. C. Police officers who came that were not on duty like michael who came because he heard about on the news and was nearly killed that day he had to beg for his life. Thanks to you and chief to you and your officers for everything that you did to defend democracy on that day. Mayor bowser you do not hesitate to voluntarily deploy metropolitan Police Department to help us out. And you do not hesitate to do it even though there are people who are determined to keep d. C. From achieving its political equality in the union by being admitted to statehood, why did you do that. Congressman we are proud to support all manners of federal operation in the district of columbia. We sometimes get reimbursed for. We sometimes dont we seen over the years the security dollars available go down and down and the first Amendment Activities and all asked the chief to chime in almost every day where mpd is working handinhand with federal partners to include the park police and the u. S. Capital police less because there tend to be fewer demonstrations but they work handinhand every day to make the city safe. Were going to be there to be supportive of the federal government whenever called upon. Let me pursue this for second with you. Unlike the metropolitan Police Department the d. C. National guard was not deployed for several hours after the riots at the capital began despite the fact they were armed and ready a few blocks away. Why didnt you just deployed the d. C. National guard. We requested the d. C. National guard to support our activities in and around the city. In a somewhat unusual response the department of the army limited the movement of the guard to where they could go. It required us to request through the army, the secretary of the army any changes to their deployment. The d. C. National guard is a just number when you have the Maryland National guard they report to the governor of maryland or florida reports to the government of florida. The d. C. National guard may more accurately be called the president s guard. The president , through his designee the secretary of the army deploys the d. C. National guard. We know that President Trump was indifferent, and passive three hours before the National Guard and was finally released. If d. C. Were to become a state the governor the new executive of the state would have control over the National Guard but the house of representatives in the last session actually voted for not just d. C. Statehood but separately in different legislation to give the mayor control over the d. C. National guard after we were taught this lesson and what it means to have a president who doesnt have the best interest of the country at heart controlling the National Guard was blocked in the senate by republicans. Would you have deployed the guard to the capital. We certainly would have moved the garden that was early in the district we think and ill ask the chief to remind me of the number of guardsmen and women who were already deployed you couldve gotten here in minutes. Because that wasnt happening we facilitated conversation with the department of the army to make sure the plea of the u. S. Capital police chief was being met. What is the question there was an effort to drive a wedge between you and d. C. Council. I cant think of a mayor and america does have differences, policy and disagreement with his or her counsel i governor in state legislature and someone does a mayor and dcf counsel stand united in defense of democratic selfgovernment in d. C. In the state petition. Absolutely 100 , members of the council i have been supportive of our efforts the congresswomans efforts and countless dozens of local groups who have advanced the d. C. Statehood. Thank you, mr. Chairman i yield back. The chair recognizes mr. Hagan for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman, mayor bowser, you just testified regarding your specific role, your personal role with days leading up to january 6 in the d. C. National guard, java counsel present . No. You wish to amend your testimony regarding what you stated today. [crowd boos] i do not. Mayor bowser you are the mayor of washington, d. C. , correct . I am. Washington, d. C. Is the capital of the United States of america, correct. The capital is the home of the entire state of a permit, the executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. The presidency and the Vice President is here 435 congressional offices, 100 senate offices, the supreme court. All departments of the government are headquartered here, all agencies are headquartered here. In your knowledge youre very intelligent american. Have a clear understanding of history. In your knowledge is there any other municipality in these United States that has access to our seat of government as the citizens of washington, d. C. And the personal access to the seat of government. Is anyone across the country that can communicate that communicate with every congressman senator the Vice President the entire seat of government. By having a sign in their yard where you would just bump into potentially hundreds of congressmen and 100 senators at any given restaurant or Grocery Store . Is there any municipality in a country that offers that level of personal access to the seat of government to these United States quick. Congressman ive already explained i am born and raised here and has spent most of my life here. I have been serving in elected office. When you were growing up i have never been to and event where i happen to bump into 100 senator. Remind the crowd clapping is a disruption. Congratulation not having dumped into 100 senators at one time. That would be horrific. [laughter] but in the course of your life growing up here, you had opportunity to have personal interaction with the entire seat of the United States government as a resident of dc. Or phoenix or louisiana or any other means the polity across the founders did discuss this heavily and the significance of which the founders placed the status of the Nations Capital. I know the founders were very concerned about being surrounded by jurisdictions that might overtake the seat of government. You share that concern . Absolutely not we have seen the federal government grow in size and scope that threatens to overtake us. We saw it. We witnessed the federal government with her honesty and safety. Is it okay with you the United States of america has a capital city. Absolutely and im happy to share with your office the bill the congresswoman to admit washington dc as the 51st state. I vote no and will do so again. I yield. Thank you mayor bowser and all witnesses for appearing today i apologize mayor bowser that you have to sit through my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to undermine the democratic life of the dumbest on of the district of columbia and citizens as i said and it is not an obligation or a legal requirement but a choice instead of the American People to combat outofcontrol gun violence then republicans are spending crushed precious time critiquing of the dc government which happened to represent a majority back and brown city so mayor bowser what other ramifications is not implemented . And to look like hypocrites we are the only free nation and to allow the citizens of the capital to be represented in its capital. What we continue to see happen is not all of the viewpoints of american citizens fully represented in this body. And the parts of the federal apparatus imposing a negative way on free taxpaying americans in washington dc. Why is this congressional review not make sense in your view . It doesnt make sense because im looking around the room and i count to people who are elected to represent asked me in the congresswoman norton. So we were talking to people what they want to see happen in their city and the last time i checked most people here said government closest to the people is the best for the people at thats why it doesnt make sense for anybody around the country to care more about our issues then we do. So how has dc held back by the inability to self govern like any other state quick. The chairman mentioned a conversation with the councilmember concerned about district finances and i had the privilege of presiding over the district achievement aaa bond rating. And with the rating agencies they steer risk to the district, not of my leadership or my policies or the dc Council Better risk of what the congress on a whim what they could do to us that could affect our finances. You should be applauded for the work you have done this country has never fully looked up to the founding principles of democracy and freedom and equality for all. Today in so many ways represent that and we see another instance of the failure dc residents are no different than residents any other place in this country taxes and go to school and they were can yet unlike those living outside the district lines the pocket of over 700,000 people of those who are black are not given full democratic rights under the law. They do not have one person, one vote they do not have a full say in the future of the choices and policy of their government. In 2023 is not just a shame that total disgrace in 2023 it is a total disgrace United States is the only democracy stated by mayor bowser that denies the residence of the capital voting representation in the national legislature. To finally extend statehood to the residents of dc not the obligation to question every decision of the dc government and with that i yield back. Thank you for holding the hearing and i think the witnesses for being here today. I agree with you mayor bowser so when you said you watch the federal government grow and just threatened to take over you. As a resident of arizona i feel the same way watching the federal government grow it encroaches on every aspect of every americans life. I agree with that sentiment entirely i also agree and also would tell you that the founders intended for the federal government to be very small thats why they enumerated the powers you are limited to this. I did want to ask you this. So on august 4th and 11th of last year with the migrant crisis on in washington dc and the pentagon denied the request saying it would diminish readiness or something to that effect is that accurate . We were not granted use of the National Guard to assist with logistics related to buses being sent from arizona and texas to washington dc. You will know we are not a border cities that we dont have the infrastructure to support those types of movements. It does however raise the question how if we had control over our own National Guard, we could ensure the readiness of the troops if the facility and training and recruitment. You did make the request and it was denied. Correct. Talking about this your office has declined to prosecute last year and give in the rationale for respect the Washington Post reported with the highest rates in the country and then the same office 2015 and in that article and then you intimated that the two things that you focused on is the crime lab remained unaccredited and then extensively there isnt a direct quote but the police by the camera footage was to more scrutiny which implies somehow the police are responsible for mishandling evidence or Something Like that which was one of the rationales. Do you stand by that quick. Thank you for the question in the opportunity. We have no greater partner and they and the chief have been an amazing ally. So the permanent Forensic Sciences is at the only crime available to the us Attorneys Office . Its a very good question. Of course there are other options both private and public labs to provide services that the department of Forensic Sciences was providing going back the way it was set up when it was lost accreditation in the system was built on everything going to the department. One way to admit there other ways to go to. So to talk about the january 6 defendant caldwell no criminal history, 70 years old not charge with any Violent Crime but you added a seditious conspiracy charge to his case after you took office enhancing the charges that had artie been filed against him. He was convicted ultimately of one obstruction count and one with tampering with evidence. Seeking 14 years in prison. My question is doesnt that seem like a death sentence to mr. Caldwell . [applause] who did not commit a crime of violence that day . I understand the desire to look at the case that is an active Ongoing Investigation and my ethical rules and department guidance. He is convicted. You are getting ready for sentencing you can answer the question why you wanted to go to sentencing. It is not an investigation or ongoing he has been convicted of two crimes. I need to know. Why . I understand your desire to know as you said in the predicate to your question his pending sentencing it would be wholly inappropriate for me in a public forum to weigh in why that is in an inappropriate sentence. My time is expired. In a true democracy the people hold the power and its up to the people in the local community to come together to make laws that fit their everyday reality. What im describing is local control and that is the bedrock of liberty. When i see outright attacks to implement policy the constituents want and need and voted for thats an attack not just on elected officials but on the constituents of that area. Republican lawmakers in this chamber determined to undermine local government when the policies dont serve them. It is very true something i recognize all the time in my district of Central Florida constantly under attack by the florida are just Florida Legislature i know all about republican lawmakers who have the same agenda using fear and intimidation to stifle local government and democracy republican lawmakers want to talk about Public Safety while refusing to do anything about gun violence in this country and talk about students and schools to change the fact the leading cause of death for a kid is to be shot to death. Ron desantis failed to secure funds for laws that floridians went like red flag laws because of a complete disregard of local communities want and incompetence the intent of the dc home rule act was to grant the inhabitants powers of selfgovernment not only that but has elected chief executive and a legislature the Dc City Council and if they do not like how their elected representatives govern then guess what . They can vote them out of office. Mayor bowser serving on the dc council and as a mayor how may times you elected to the council and as mayor. I was elected three times serving eight years councilmember and starting my ninth year as a mayor. 535 Voting Members dc residents does not have a single Voting Member out of office in 1995 then republican speaker gingrich said the following we should not interfere directly with home rule those of us who visit and come here only for the purpose of representing our community to have the knowledge or the right to micromanage the daily lives of the people of the city. Thats how times can change for a party. Today have more knowledge then you than the Dc City Council . No. Have any we Republicans Committee knocked on the doors to learn about dc . Now. You have any republicans have knocked on doors with any members of the city council. I am not aware. Aware of any republicans on the Committee Going 20 town halls with you are roundtables to learn about the district of columbia . The fact that they pretend they know how to govern dc better than you all is patronizing. And to respect certain decisions under home rule. We try to govern dc and makes you wonder who they are trying to represent. And i thank you all for your time and i apologize you have to waste your time at a hearing like this especially on your daughters birthday. We sang happy birthday to your daughter and i yield back. I have 115 elections and i have always run on dc Voting Rights and now state hundred. I can tell you in my district in Northern Virginia we fully support the economy of dc and fully oppose undo an abstention of this congress and the affairs of dc is not a matter if i agree with you are not. Thats not my business but i dont get to interfere in your life of self jurisdiction and selfgovernance you asked from the gentleman from louisiana when they were writing the constitution to dc exist when the constitution was written . Yes or no. No. Have even decided where the capital would be . No. They had no way of knowing when they wrote the constitution only fantasizing with the capital might look like and we have to take that into account in the 21st century the constitution is a living document and i think most of them starting with James Madison would be horrified at the current state of relations between this congress and the American People in the district of columbia. Thank you all for being here today. This hearing come celebrating National Police week a chance to think and on to the men and women putting their lives on the line despite increasingly dangerous conditions and crime rates in cities across america according to fbi Crime Statistics the 20 cities of the highest incident rates, 17 are led by democratic mayors my colleagues may not like it but the democrat policies and inevitably lead to lawlessness and social discord maintaining public order and safety are a fundamental responsibility of government establishing justice to ensure domestic tranquility are mandates the Founding Fathers wrote into the first line of the constitution recidivism rates are among the highest in the world almost 44 percent of criminals release from prison return within one year which is why i was mortified to learn to decline to prosecute 67 percent of arrest thats an astronomically high figure seven years ago it was 35 percent and for context chicago grappling with the welldocumented crime wave only decline 14 percent of cases we simply cannot combat hardened criminals with prosecutorial pacifism madame mary juvenile arrest for carjacking rose precipitously when the covid lockdown close school would you agree the decision to keep youth out of school for a prolonged period of time led to an increase of juvenile crime . I cannot directly link closing schools to juvenile crime. But i do suspect a whole ecosystem of disrupted Services Affected youth in need. Do you think closing the schools contributed to the increase of juvenile crime . A lot contributes to crime and we dont always know what causes crime to go up. But our approach has always been to put all resources at an issue including having our kids to be the first in the region back in their Public Schools with the teachers and the facilities that are best able to serve them. Please describe the state of morale how has the councilman contributed to the state of morale would you say that Emergency Police reform grows to adjust contributes to the growing violence . I have the police chief here and i work every day to make sure police know they are supported you will find a bigger supporter of the metropolitan supporter than me. Policing is a tough profession and making sure we have the right policy is also one of my big jobs part of that is introducing legislation that when Police Make Arrests they can have some certainty the work would be respected throughout the Public Safety ecosystem and also let us get back on track to 4000 officers and also make it possible for me to recruit the next great police chief. I take it from your statement you were very critical of the decision to decline . I want to make sure all of the work of the metropolitan police all of the bravery of people coming forth as witnesses is carefully considered through the criminal Justice System. It sounds like very carefully worded criticism for you. The average homicide suspect arrested 11 times prior to committing homicide there has already been 80 homicides in dc this year five more than all of 2022 and approximately 215 homicides in 2023 your policies are directly endangering the public and how many instances have you declined to prosecute eventually charged with homicide quick. Thank you for the question is a career prosecutor nothing has a greater concern than Community Safety. I appreciate that. I would love to thank you for a direct answer how many that you did not prosecute quick. That statistic that you cite of what the Office Look Like from day number one i sat down with the chief. Dont quibble with that statistic just answer the drug question. How many instances have you declined to prosecute eventually charged with homicide . Speak out have to check with my time but sitting here today i am not aware of any. You dont know that for a fact . 15000 arrest that occurred last year i would like to check before confirming on the record. I am talking about those that commit homicide i am assuming you we keep a record with their interaction with the police in your interaction with those individual. I can tell you we are attacking the recidivism rate of those that we charge versus we did in charge and what we have seen and that is slightly higher than those we did not charge. We are out of time i yield back. Thank you for being here. Before i get started with my line of questioning a lot has been made about the drop in achievement of dc students want to come back to the reality of the pandemic and the ongoing trauma causing scores to drop for every racial demographic subgroup across the nation it is not particular to the district of columbia. Madame mayor thank you for being here sorry you have to be here but i appreciate your time. And with a denial of statehood has very real consequences for dc residents as you know congress has exercised the ability to overrule laws enacted by the dc council that that is democratically elected over the 700,000 residents so the lack of statehood has financial consequences as well in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and gave each state minimum of one. 2 5 million dc received only 495 million even never paid for federal taxes with a Larger Population then to states including this day im proud to represent, vermont it took a full year for dc to finally receive its fair share that only occurred after democrats took control of congress and retroactively secure the 755 million with the American Rescue plan obviously completely and totally unfair tying your hands behind your back giving your residents the support they needed so now as the efforts to enact a nationwide abortion ban congress has long prohibited dc and the prohibition was listed in 2009 but the day that ben was reimposed at least 28 women on medicaid scheduled to have abortions were told their Health Insurance no longer covered the procedure. Those covered by medicare are not covered for abortion. 90 percent of the dc residents and medicator people of color what impact does this have on the women of dc who would like to have full Healthcare Options available to them . Thats just another glaring and dignity that we suffer that our locally raised money from our tax dollars our residents pay income taxes that support our local budget we are denied how we use that budget and we know that has tremendous impact on people along the economic income band so why is that a person of means have greater access to healthcare choices than a person on medicaid . It is not fair and it is something that should change is not the only thing however we cannot tax and regulate cannabis for example that does have a Public Safety impact the men and women of the Police Department market cannabis sales daily and then to regulate the system to implement a more safe system. Mayor, what you think would happen if republicans continue to push their National Abortion ban in the interference in the district of columbia . What do you think that would do with the citizens you represent in terms of getting the health care they need and deserve . I hope it will wake up women around our country. Especially we have already seen suburbs around American Cities they may be conservative that they do not like the idea with their daughter to have less rights than they have. And to expect as the bodily autonomy of the american women this is the link to the dc residents and that we will advance the cause of statehood. Congress has no business getting a between women and their doctors. I yield back. The gentleman from south carolina. And living in chinatown and i have been in dc as the navy yards in 2018. And Law Enforcement seems to have those morale with a number of factors and then we want the city to be the beacon that it should be for the world and that the best days are ahead for the United States they dont feel that way when they come here now. And then i warned them of things they should or should not do and i want to help. After the last hearing. And then to sit with me in my office. To identify the areas and then dc has two of them we will address the dc components and armstrong will follow up that congress can offer so those two dc components and also anti vagrancy laws so there is 5000 people currently homeless in dc experiencing homelessness and we need to help them get back on their feet to get them food shelter Mental Health services and job opportunity so i realize steps have been taken but it has been insufficient in my view to make sure there are no Homeless People in dc and they transition to opportunities. We need to send a message to visit washington dc and with a deterrent threat but we cannot have repeat offenders that continue to commit crimes and commit worse crimes i will not go through all the Different Things there needs to be a structure to allow fairness if somebody does something to make a mistake but there are bad people in the world and we need to separate them from society. So lets start with the homelessness issue. Mayor bowser do you agree if Congress GivesFinancial Support can we address this in a more meaningful way . Thank you for your concern of our residents that are experienced in homelessness some of them are native to washington dc some of them come to washington dc because we are the capital in the seat of government i have been proud over my eight years as mayor to have a comprehensive approach. Do you agree we have a major problem in washington dc relating to homelessness . We have 221 people as of todays count living on the street those the people you are referring to. I have the 5000 number. We are not 5000 People Living on the street. We can go right now its 50 yards away what you talking about quick. There is not 300 people under 295 or 395 we have outreach change one chains reaching out across all of the words. Those are the facts. Your own counsel says 5000 people are homeless in dc. We will move on criminal code bail reform if there is additional accountability and additional jurisdiction and resources whether a new prisoner Rehabilitation Center , whatever you need to fix the problem, can counsel come to the table in a more serious manner address the criminal code to make sure people feel they cannot commit crimes and not be prosecuted. We understand the Council Committee with the judiciary will take up the criminal code revision in the coming months and we stand ready to assist. Congressman armstrong will follow up we are here to help and to provide additional jurisdiction i just hope we can make the city what we know it can be. We will take up on your offer to assist we expect the capital dollars to be more constrained in the coming years and we would happily work with you with appropriations. And that full taxation without representation and the only deny representation at the National Level to the residents of the capital im sure is no coincidence that the colleagues on the other side of the aisle are seeking to oversee without representation are over 45 percent black the tenant of no taxation without representation launched in the declaration of independence yet congress require 700,000 dc residents to pay all federal taxes that nice but denies them voter representation do you think not having to senators to represent dc has impacted federal funding and policy . Absolutely one very specific thing that happened during our response to covid we were and explain the plea grouped as a territory for the c. A. R. E. S. Act which none of us know how that happened or if it has ever happened previously. That is one such way also not having to senators for the district maryland and dc and virginia over 4 Million People making at the region and we know how important that will be in regional discussions like how we will find Washington Union station that could be a spectacular renovation costing 1 billion. How we deal with the fiscal cliff coming toward the Transit Authority and by the way other transit authorities will come to the congress that is almost 1 billion so we know having six senators more than 4 million person region. Thank you for those examples dc paid more federal taxes and it pays more federal taxes than 19 states and they pay half the federal taxes dc pays north dakota and kansas all represented by republicans each pays less than dc. On a per capita basis it pays five times federal taxes of the home state of kentucky. Mayor bowser is a fifthgeneration washingtonian of the 700,000 dc residents what you hear from your constituents being taxed without representation quick. It is changing. We have always been proud to pay our fair share you just outlined how we pay more we give more to the federal government then we get back. Frequently some people think we are an agency of the federal government some people think everything we have has been paid by federal tax dollars and that could not be worse than the truth. People have started to say to me why are we paying taxes . Why do we withhold our taxes and see what happens . We are proud americans. We are proud to host the federal government and pay our fair share but enough is enough. Congress wants to vote for us look at all of the things shes been able to accomplish taking advantage of federal lands creating jobs underutilized park space into active spaces. We know we can do so much more with our votes that american citizenship should guarantee. Dc residents have been petitioning for representation for over 200 years. Instead of acting on that the Republicanled Congress has taken every chance to strike down the will of the people and a coach the ability to self govern. And then in restaurants and bars they dont want to see you driving by in the black suburban they want their own representation. It was is wrong today as it was in 1776 but the shameful practice is alive and well and the Nations Capital the heart of the issue with political power when dc becomes a state the highest proportion of black residents of any state. We need to affirm the right of selfdetermination admitting it into the union to write the wrong. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Chair man us Attorneys Offices unique with some indian reservations that exist this is for your primary Prosecutorial Authority i appreciate what matt on mayor bowser said i will get to be op here but what structural disadvantages do you have in dealing with the prosecutorial aspect that we can work on . This is a really important point. I appreciate the question. And some of the ecosystem comes from the federal government some come from stateside we have to interact together and make it work and that is the current system. If it is a resource issue we need both sides of issues and we are willing to do that i think it is unique and it is important anybody sentenced to one year in dc goes into the bureau of prison. You said you seen a rise of repeat offenders one of the things we have learned if its a conservative state like north dakota democratic like new jersey, starting to develop, cochair of the Second Chance task force it is unique when you get out of the bureau of prisons and you are sent anywhere but we have learned locally how to do this. The last six months of your sentence the sevenyear or eight teen months or ten years but if we do it right dealing with services and transition you can put people coming out of custody with the best chance to succeed in the least chance of recidivism. We know we need a new jail anyone who thinks we dont should go. But also we should take this opportunity to start looking at some things that states do better than the federal government. I dont care where somebody is sent after. People for nonviolent felony offenses the closer you are the better chance you have of not having recidivism. But we should have conversations if we rebuild the jail and talk about potentially putting in a program but if they are getting back out the current model to put them on a bus is not fair to the victims if it is a victim crime where they are coming back from and set up for failure instead of success we have some opportunities to do things in a different way and i am thinking outside of all of the differences in the disconnect we have an opportunity to do some things we know what works and we know for a fact it is very different than a historical drug conspiracy with 15 years and the federal penitentiary and say it is sourcing the crime lab you recognize what states go through there is a reason the Historical Rate test all across the country but instead of dehumanizing all the time we have an opportunity to do this but i agree if it is a resource issue we will look at the resource issue but its also of how we deliver the services coming in our out if you need more prosecutors to do with firsttime offenders we need to know that if you need to communicate with the local Police Department with the prosecutorial missions are more copacetic we need to do that but we do have the ability to do some of this and there are some smart things we can do where willing to spend the money if spent appropriately. I went to Say Something. We do need more prosecutors. We do. They dont work for me but for the us attorney we need more prosecutors. I have heard the us attorneys say they are not prosecuting a lot of misdemeanors but this is how my Police Officers think if they are arresting people then they will be right back out because they know they will not be prosecuted even if it is misdemeanor that misdemeanors indicate a sense of lawlessness. I know they have to be efficient with their resources and we can appreciate that. But lets make sure they have enough prosecutors to prosecute the homicide but also to prosecute gun offenses because a felon in possession of the gun should be prosecuted. I agree completely it is unique it is the one space dealing with misdemeanors as a primary offense but also globally one of the biggest mistakes that has been made is catch and release on misdemeanors with a 19 yearold offender by 22 they will be in jail that is the reality. I am way out of time but i will take extra if anybody has god it. Very good discussion. And talk about recidivism and and then not re committing crimes, what are you finding quick. I appreciate the opportunity. In response to the resource question every prosecutor will tell you i will take more prosecutors we are appreciative of that 20 to 23 budget and we have received additional prosecutors because of that. And we would ask the president fiscal year 24 budget be fully funded arming for prosecutors and then to go above the budget request we would take more. As a misdemeanor is a Public Safety issue. There is no category of misdemeanors at the offices refusing or declining to prosecute. Sharon the sentiment has been expressed. Misdemeanors. That is why when we have sufficient evidence we move forward with a misdemeanor i went to increase the rate and our office with the last of accreditation in order to prosecute. A large percentage of the cases we are prosecuting our drug possession we went to prosecute to get those individuals under Court Supervision into treatment programs and hopefully address the root cause driving criminal conduct. In my 35th district of texas 60000 and my constituents are veterans and military they have a voice and a vote in congress but in dc theres over 30000 veterans well they have a powerful voice they are not given an equal vote there is a chance they may never see their friends or family ever again they signed up knowing they can hold their representative accountable for the votes putting their lives on the line but servicemembers of dc do not have the same right and also have no vote in the senate where military leadership is conferred paying taxes to fund wars but no say whether or not the country goes to war serving greatly in the military for the entire history of our country. Summit paid the ultimate price of the country that denies voting representation in congress and for local government. What message does it send to dc military families and veterans the country the everest their life for refuses to give them basic democratic rights . And we often find our servicemembers have to call on the government from how they how they need those housing supports and services and they want to make sure they are fully represented. They also have grievances. They want to have those heard by the Voting Members of the congress. And then to make it better for themselves and their family. San antonio those veteran military families indeed have great participants to make the system work better and the dc statehood those active military members and veterans would be best served here in dc. So those that are trying to do their job spread across the country today the senate is considering voting on the bill to wipe out water breaks with a vision on eviction protectors and now picking on the city of san antonio including paid six days ordinance we have to support dc to give you statehood and try to support you rather than get in the way. Thank you so much i yield back. It is appalling to hear these crime stats but in reading your testimony and also hearing the backandforth i realized you have actually been more pro lawenforcement than your city council and with that decision to rewrite the criminal code which think goodness was overturned. But obviously that appeared out of touch with issues plaguing the city. Mayor why is it you think the City Councils working so hard against you with visitors . I think hours city council is concerned about safety of residents it wont surprise anybody to have philosophical differences on how to make the city safer or wellknown to bring me back for a third term but i also think americans all across the country and what i hear them telling me when i go to visit places they are not concerned about my city council or me but they want to make sure washington is working and im talking about federal washington. My colleagues dont feel safe Walking Around i dont feel safe Walking Around with a fellow member of congress brutally attacked obviously showing this person was disturbed and then the failure of prosecution for that, that does not signify a safe city so we see that sexual abuse offenses have increased it over 48 percent in one year time frame through 2023. So as a personal understanding. I understand you are married quick. Yes. You have children . Yes. I would assume you are against violence against women . Yes. Of course. There has been many concerns brought up by my colleagues you have actively chosen to ignore certain cases and as a result it is impacting people that ultimately are relying on you to do your job to make them feel safe in the instance of my colleague that was attacked, she is coming downstairs from her apartment a crazy man goes and if locked up prior but yet wasnt and i just want to know why. If that was your wife or child i assume you would have press charges . I understand the concern for the Community Members, we. But he had a track record and allowed back on the streets and those actions taken against him clearly were not done in a way he can no longer do that this person was disturbed so word you have allowed that to happen if that was your wife or child . Yes or no. It is not a yes or no. You people directly impacted and hurt by these people and you are feeling to do your job like asking for your perspective when someone is obviously charge with the more harsh sentence than they deserved people arguing about statehood its fine if they can even prosecute adolescents cases and that is your responsibility im not trying to be a jerk but i am asking for you to do your job and make people feel safe especially those depending on you with 48 percent increase of sexual assault, my goodness. I yield my time. May i address your question. We only have 26 seconds. We do have a lot to say about that when time allows. I will contact your office. The chair recognizes for five minutes. At a fight and get what i need to say in five minutes. I will do my best times so excited my colleagues across the aisle care about sexual abuse the front runner right now is just been found liable of sexual abuse because this may mean that finally it will back off from supporting him because we dont support sexual abusers in this chamber so lets talk about fact versus fiction my colleagues want to talk about tough on crime and keeping criminals off the street. So lets talk about what is criminal . We have members of congress elected to subvert democracy and the will of the people by dictating the city and republicans want to subvert the peoples power not just for dc but all over my texas and North Carolina with gerrymandering and in fact remembers here who still think trump one in 2020 republicans want to talk about crime and violence but not admit the role in the crisis the fact is that they still allow assault weapons which force families to leave a mall with nothing more than trauma and hurt and despair as a neonazi terrorized them but yet what do they have in their hand . Another ar 15. But we do want to have a conversation about that if we want to talk about the increase and we have to talk about these root causes. The fact we have elected legislators that will do their job by keeping the weapons off the street. That is number one. We are still reeling from a financial crisis and guess what they dont want to make it better saying we will help out the economy post covid but right now were on the cliff over the debt ceiling raised three times under trump and 25 percent of the credit card bill they dont want to pay was approved under trump and he only had one term. Hopefully he will have no more. I digress. Blue states like illinois, new mexico, and michigan every year since 2000 and my colleagues feel the need to meddle in the local affairs of dc, look at where there might be issues. To be clear, dc doesnt control most of the own criminal Justice System. Instead the federal government administers most of it. I have a few questions, yes or no for you mayor bowser. The federal government not dc has the ability to prosecute crimes under dc law. Thats correct. Federal government appoints judges to local dc courts. Thats correct. Lastly, isnt the federal government responsible for parole and supervisory lease of people convicted of felonies under dc law . Yes. Have hayed say well disallow this until the body and expel this individual . They have not. I dont want to hear they care about crime because if they did theyd start by cleaning up our own house and mind our own business instead of coming after dc so thank you for your time. Thank you, congresswoman. Ms. Mcclain for five minutes. Thank you. Ill turn over to the lawabiding citizens and make it nonpartisan and make it about the lawabiding citizens and got done with mothers day and i think i have one of the best moms thats ever walked the face of the earth and happy mothers day again, mom. I look back to all the lessons that my mom taught me. For every action theres a reaction and if you do an action, theres a bad action and pay the consequences, lisa. You can make your own decisions but when your decisions or actions hurt someone else then you pay the consequences and some things mom can help you with and some things other. You have to be more responsible and importantly accountable for your actions and i hear her on my shoulder chirping in my ear constantly. Motor vehicle theft up possible 110 and homicides up 12 , sexual abuse up 53 and property up 30 . Thats not the good position for the lawabiding citizen to be in and we need to take ragaini good long look at why. I think it goes back and i hear my mom on my shoulder consequence to the action, whats the consequence to your action. If my curfew was at 10 00 and i came home at 10 05, there was a consequence to my action. Next time i came home it was 9 50 and i wasnt late. Despite a sharp increase in crime, the u. S. Attorneys office for the district of columbia declined to prosecute 67 of individuals arrested in dc in 2022. 67 of people committed an action and didnt have a consequence to their action. I wonder what behavior that led to. I wonder if anyone can connect those dots and according to police chief robert conti, the average homicide suspect had been arrested 11 times prior to them committing the homicide. My mom had time in Law Enforcement but i think her concepts make sense. So, mayor bowser, do you think violent and repeat offenders should be kept in jail . I believe in consequences as well. Thank you. Congresswoman. But i also believe that its complicated. But life is complicated and life is complicated for the lawabiding citizens too. I dont disagree. Do you believe that violent repeat, repeat, repeat offenders should be kept in jail. If the seasons is i dont know or depends i have a piece of legislation that addresses the issue that youre raising for verne pete for a person thats been convicted of a Violent Crime and arrested for another Violent Crime, im suggested we close a gap in our law. I agree but i think youre missing the point. We need to detain them wile we await trial. Is that a yes . Its a yes in some cases. Yes, i think that this is i believe firmly. What i believe firmly, congresswoman and weve been focused on taking guns off our streets. Let me stop you because i have another question. Do you have any concerns that the average homicide suspect has been arrested 11 times prior to committing the murder, mr. Graves . 11 times. Yes, we have concerns with anybody thats arrested and i do want to clarify that same study which was talking about point in time, almost all the people had been prosecuted for some of their conduct 75 of them were under Court Supervision at some point in time in their lives and it didnt work. It didnt work. 25 of them under Court Supervision at time of offense. Right. Can you explain to the committee why where are office is declining to prosecute so many people . I mean 67 thank you all for your time and thank you again to my mom for talking about consequences actions have consequences. Mr. Garcia for five minutes. Thank you, mayor bowser and judge garcia. My mom was in Law Enforcement for ten years and its a tough job and no stranger to Justice Reform and all the work you guys do every day and your entire team from the Police Leadership and everyone else thank you for your work. This is only our Second Committee hearing on my topic and i feel oftentimes im back at my City Council Meetings and members of this committee wanted to focus on crime they should run for office in dc. Clearly theyre very interested in what you all do as it relates to crime here at local jurisdiction. Yet theyre not interested in discussing crime and gun violence in their own districts and states. Instead of having a meaningful discussion about Public Safety, which we can have, we can show as a committee through the majority are content for the people of washington dc. Dc residents are americans that deserve the same right to federal representation and each have across the country. Were not bringing in the governors of the other states in front of our committee and not asking them and probing them questions and not sure why. Clear that my republican colleague dont care about the violence for the communities and they want to make political points and only been here for five points and numerous reform and Gun Legislation and trying to ban assault weapons and crime and reach across the aisle and bring forth some of the legislation. Instead im going to debate whether 700,000 american citizens in the nations capitol deserve the right to selfdetermination. Mayor bowser, as a former mayor, sorry tough be here today when you should be at city hall doing the peoples work and the people have you here as their mayor and thank you for being here. But since you are here and our republicans are so interested in dropping crime, theres no advice. The governor of mississippi and louisiana and all of whom are higher rates and then the district. Do you have any advice for them about what those states could possibly do to really bring forward criminal Justice Reform in the states . Im sure my colleagues will take that information and pass it along to the governor. The advice id give them is what i give to all members of the congress as well. We need common sense gun reform, congressman. We need to keep kids safe in schools, congressman. We need to do the things most americans agree with and saying about disagreements ive had with my council and make the district safer and increase during Domestic Violence all over the country and common sense reform and more. Thank you, governor. I encourage our council to take that advice and yield back. Chairman from tennessee. Thank you, chairman and thank you, maam. I was a county mayor myself and best job i ever had. Thank you for being here. I agree. Mr. Graves, beside the juvenile crime your office handles criminal prosecution for the area. Is that correct . I want to make sure i understood the question. Outside of juvenile crime, we handle adult crime but juvenile crime handled by the dc office. Yeah, that was my point. In 2015, u. S. Attorneys office for the district of columbia declined to prosecute 35 of the cases. Is that correct . Thats consist with my recollection roughly. Yes or no, youre sworn in as u. S. Attorney of district of columbia in 2021. You testified of criminal cases for the crime to prosecute in 2022 was 67 . Does that sound correct . Thats not quick. Thats fiscal year 2022. So both predates when i was sworn in and postdates. Okay. The total crime though is up 27 from the same time last year so i dont think its a lack of criminals. What does your office why does your office decline to prosecute so many of these cases . So thank you for the question and i welcome the opportunity to explain. Congresswoman mcclain had a great chart that answered a lot of your questions. The one thing not reflected on the chart is throughout the congresswoman mcclain tends to confuse me so i was asking me and you. I wish i had her chart to help me explain and one thing not reflected on the chart is every year we charge roughly 90 of the most serious violent felonies. What changed, you can see the change start in fiscal year 2017 and kind of incrementally step down each year was the handling of misdemeanors and talking about going across three administrations and five u. S. Attorneys. Were working on some issues that led to the deck la nations of the areas and the numbers are going up. Okay. Interview in the Washington Post you said your office is continuing to prosecute most of the violent felonies but were declining less serious case; is that correct . That sound within your recollection . Yes. Okay. In the same interview the cases you declined mostly came after an arrest in cases like gun possession, drug possession and other misdemeanors, sound right . So that generally sounds correct for fiscal year 2022. I would like to clarify the quote in light of Prior Exchange though. Okay. Are you aware your predecessor chaning phillips wrote an op ed for the Washington Post saying dc should not disregard misdemeanor crimes and focus on Rehabilitation Program s . Yes, im aware. That was in response to an op ed that ran in the Washington Post encouraging u. S. Attorneys office to stop prosecuting misdemeanor offenses at all. Right. People generally read those are the ones that they were written about. Are you aware that the wayne county prosecutors office, which includes detroit only declined to prosecute 30 of the cases of 2022. Youre comparing other jurisdictions and going for the comparison and the police can automatically file charges for no prosecute tourist reviews. Yes, automatic file jurisdiction. In philadelphia only 4 . Ive seen that being reported. Okay, mr. Connie, is that correct, how i say that name . Its conti, sir. Chief conti, okay. My name gets massacred pretty regular too. No worries. All right, thank you. Didnt you say the average homicide suspect has been arrested 11 times prior to them committing a homicide . I did. And so you can see how mr. Graves apparent soft on crime policies could actually make residents and visitors feel less safe . I dont think its mr. Graves policy necessarily. Its a combination of things, sir. Okay. Mr. Graves, my office gives 45 constituent tours a week for groups. Hundreds of families from east tennessee come to visit the capitol every year. All the members before you come to dc every session every week. We all have staff living in dc. I think your decision to decline 67 of the cases arrowheadless of the reason regardless of the reasons put our offices at risk but most importantly my constituents and constituents of every member here at risk and i think its unacceptable and in some case its disgraceful. Thank you yall for being here. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Chair recognizing Council Member from florida. For five minutes. Thank you. I want to thank the mayor for being here and your approach to this issue over the last several months and quite frankly the last several years. I want to remind my colleagues across the aisle that six out of top ten high crime states are red states so i assume at some point since were now the crime committee, i assume at some pint well have the attorney generals from those states to talk about what we can do in those red states on crime. Interesting to be the dc council and here we are with another hearing on crime and yet we have not heard the other side talk about gun violence. Again i want to remind them gun violence is crime. Mass shootings are crime. We heard that taiwan has really low crime. Well, taiwan doesnt allow mentally ill people to buy ar structure and support, unlimited ammunition and body armor. Mobile one reason why taiwan has slightly lower crime than us. A member of this committee had someone burst into their office and injure Staff Members. We should be thankful that that person didnt have a gun. Because instead of two injured Staff Members, wed have two dead Staff Members and yet were not doing anything to stop mentally ill people from being able to buy ar15s and unlimited ammunition in the country. Gun trafficking, gun trafficking in dc is a huge issue. My friends across the aisle like to talk about illegal people all the time but they dont want to talk about illegal guns. They dont want to talk about all the illegal guns being trafficked in dc or say the word guns at all. Dc went from being a single digit ghost gun area to now having 461 ghost guns recovered in 2022. In fact semiautomatic weapons are being converted to automatic weapons and seen an increase in that with 340 . We dont hear that at all from the other side even though theyre so focused on crime. We heard a question about myocarditis, serious to fair question. But also not the leading cause of School Aged Children dying. Thats guns. So we cant continue to take these hearings serious when talking about crime if were not going to talk about gun violence. Youre not in denial. I know you know this. You just dont want to talk about it because its expedient and heard another member talking about books. Books in school. Im sure theres a couple of books that we take out of the classroom and remember, dead kids cant read. We passed a dc approval in congress and i voted for it, mr. Chairman. President signed it. What i dont understand is why are we wasting this committees time with the United StatesOversight Committee for the second time on just washington dc. Why are we talking about crime on fentanyl had to listen to parents testify and talk about how theyre losing their kids to fentanyl. Serious issue. I support the chairman of that committees bill. The data is clear on fentanyl. You know what else, the data is clear on gun violence. The numbers dont lie. And yet were ignoring it. Perhaps we can maybe depoliticize the issue one day like were doing with fentanyl because its important. Watching parents continue to bury their children because they sent them to school or sent them to a Movie Theater or went to a Grocery Store or they were in a church or they were in a synagogue is despicable. I know you guys are busy. I know you got stuff going on and youre trying to find the fake informant thats now gone missing and youre busy with that. But im hoping that perhaps the Oversight Committee if theyre so worried about federal overreach, perhaps they can start being focused on real government oversight and with that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Gentleman yields back before i recognize ms. Boburg. Just to clarify the grassley whistle blower is alive and well. Chair recognize ms. Bobert. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mayor bowser, is the district of columbia more dangerous during your tenure . Congresswoman, as you have heard, we have experienced over the last ten years decreases in Violent Crime, all categories of crime. You also heard me talk about in my testimony especially in the last three years being very concerned what about this last year, mayor . What about it . Is it more dangerous this year than last year . Ill is the chief to give you an update i see that crime is up 27 . That doesnt sound like a decrease to me. Violent crime is up 13 and in 2020 and 2021, the city recorded more than 200 homicides in consecutive years for the first time in 20 years so is washington dc more dangerous now that youre in office . The nation is more dangerous with more guns and more Violent Crime. Were talking about washington dc here. We have also seen that the Police Budget has been cut 15 million in 2020, mayor. Do you think this contributes to an increase in crime . I think a lot of things have cricketed to increases in crime across the country. What about in washington dc, do you think the 15 million budget cut to nypd in 2020 caused an increase in crime here in the district of columbia . I think that we need to have 4,000 Police Officers over the course of the last several years. You want more Police Officers . Yes. Well in the past youve hired on average 300 new Police Officers each year but in 2022, you hired 103. Thats 200 less and now youre advocating for more Police Officers after cutting their budgeting and hiring 200 less Police Officers. Ive advocating for more police every day as mayor of the district of columbia. When i became mayor, we were facing a retirement bubble, and we set a course at that time for hiring and retention do you believe washington dc would be safer and more secure if you hired more Police Officers rather than decreasing the number of recruitment by 200 . Were not decreasing recruitment but were facing as cities in Police Departments around the country less interest in joying. Why do you think that is . Do you think our Police Officers have been demonized because of the rhetoric flow from this city and many others around the nation . I think police asking a tough job. I would agree. Its a job thats grown tougher over the years and i think when do you think it became more tough when they were attacked for doing their jobs, protecting citizens. And lost their funding. Congresswoman, if im allowedded to speak, ill answer you but im not going to talk over you. We have its been my experience in the last eight years that weve had to use more incentive, and we have investigated and researched what is going to take to attract young people to come into policing and one thing we have done in the district for example is create a Police Academy that were very proud of. Chief contee in fact joined the Police Academy when he was 17 years old. Thank you, may madame mayor, i dont need to hear about childhood issues here. Well, this is how we get Police Officers. Around district of columbia and advocating for this is defunding you did defund them. 16 million budget cut. I did not defund them. Juror 16 million in 2020. What would you say to the law make ores in washington dc and policies are unable to defend themselves because of this rife in crime. Congresswoman, i dont have to come here to talk to you to talk to the resident was the district of columbia. I talk to them daily. I tell them as theyre mayor, regardless of whats happening nationally, regardless of whats happening in our very complicate d criminal Justice System as their mayor, i am charged with making it work. Is it working . I am charged with making it work. What i have to do do you think youre doing a good job with that because im seeing that crime is up, Violent Crime is up, homicides is up and Police Recruitment is down. Is it working . Every day we approach them may dam mayor. My time is up and you node what you need, more Police Officers and more funding and policies that allow lawabiding citizens thank you, maam, its my time. Lawabiding citizens to be able to protect themselves in their own home and defend them. The culture war of 2020 riots and [inaudible]. Youre repeating it and im happy to repeat it as well. What we have said, mr. Chairman, if you will permit me it in that i was overtalked much of that five minutes. We have been very focused on how to make sure that we have a policy environment that supports the safe city and also that we approach it not just with Law Enforcement but with opportunity and with prevention. Your policies are clearly making your city more dangerous, not safer. Thank you. Ladies, time is expire. Expired. Thank you. Mayor bowser and chief contee if youd like to answer. It is particularly odd to me to hear my republican colleagues talk this week about backing the blue. When they also defend so many of the january 6 defendants who violently attack the Capitol Police and mpd and injured nearly 150 officers, including causing five to die. It is particularly rich for my republican colleagues that anyone is soft on crime youring theyre defending the violent criminals and were now five months into this congress. This is the second of nine on washington dc. That is nearly a quarter of this committees time has been spent on a city of approximately 700,000 people. I get it. Maybe its because the chairman is actually able to fine witnesses from the washington dc government. But this is a waste of time. Mr. Contee, he said he believes the moral of the mpd is down. Helpful or harmful to the moral of the mpd for politicians to go to the dc jail to defend defendants charged with committing acts of violence against the mpd . I think politicizing policing in any way is not helpful. I wont specifically address the issue going to the jail or not going to the jail but any time politics is injected into Law Enforcement, i think that that is harmful to what our mission is. Theres been a lot of discussion about Violent Crime in the city. What percentage of the Violent Crime in the city in your estimate chief contee involves guns . So theres a significant percentage of it that involves firearms and we see that but i think, again, when you talk about crime in the city and ive heard a lot of numbers kind of thrown around in the city and i dont think its anybody in this room thats been in more crime scenes than i have and when we look at it and crime. Theres some firearms and people are able to assemble this and no manufacturing firearms in place and all the firearms used in crime and coming from other states. Coming from the district of columbia and consumers much like new york city and having the guns and coming from virginia and North Carolina, south carolina, georgia, the south up to washington dc. States with more laxed gun laws than washington dc. Whatever the gun laws are, those firearms show up in washington dc. Mr. Graves, im going to turn to you because youve been attacked repeatedly over the hearing about the number of 67 and no one has given you the changes to respond. For the rest of my time, id like you to give whatever response you feel appropriate. Thank you, i appreciate that. Again, i cannot stress enough throughout the whole time period weve been looking at, the chart that was put up, 90 of serious violent felonies were charged at the time of arrest, and i would note just because the case is not charged at the time of arrest does not mean that its not ultimately charged because theres often particularly with our Violent Crimes continued investigation that gets us in a position to charge the case. What we see was a five year trend spanning three administrations and five u. S. Attorneys primarily around the issue of misdemeanors and complications with prosecuting misdemeanors that were trying to address and we have started to address and our paper and rate are charging rates this year are much higher than we saw last year. Thank you, i yield back. Chair recognizing mr. Palmer from alabama. Appreciate you holding this hearing. I want to respond to the point from earlier and chief contee, most of the gun violence in the district of columbia committed with illegally possessed firearms, is that correct . Thats correct, sir. So the district of columbia has very strict gun control laws and all firearms in every state and mexico and canada. Can you explain to me how passing another law will have gun violence and addressing intently and theres no such thing as gun violence but only human violence and these guns, most of the guns are illegal, is that correct . Thats correct. We have a number of legal firearms actually registered to District Residents over 34,000 legally registered firearms in the district of columbia and the ones that show up generally on crime scenes are handguns that are illegal firearms in possession of people who should not have them. And lawabiding residents of the district of columbia are difficult to get a concealed carry permit. We have issues over 34,000 at the population of those who want to have concealed carry permits and we processed them with a time frame allotted by law to do that and generally that turn around is roughly in the crime committed with the district of columbia not committed by the people with concealed carry. Most of it, no sir. Thank you for that response and the knife attacking senator rand paul and legally possessed weapon. Three inches and going down. We dont have the same concern about more People Killed with a bladed instrument or a blunt instrument and personal weapons and by a significant number than are killed with the type and the mayor with the statistics and thats not the case of the district of columbia, sir. Rivals or handgun s . Handguns primarily and now seeing the the weapons that have been converted to fully automatic and were also seeing those show up significant amount. Are those handguns that are being converted to fully automatic or some of them are. Some of them are ghost guns with ar15 type and we see all different types but primarily firearms in the district of columbia and the crap shows. I hate to say that. Were not helping the district of columbia, were not helping our own states by having we come up with ways to excuse ourselves of crime in the country and make more about it and gun control laws. The senator from new mexico. Thank you for serving on the panel and just acknowledge your service on behalf of our capitol city. Also i see a proud staff sitting behind you. Thank you for serving the people of dc and thank you for serving our nations capitol and i want to say that for one im deeply proud to be able to spend part of my time in the city and i lived here for seven years when i was a staffer at omb and in the senate. I know the work that you guys put in every single day to make sure that our city is well represented. And my colleagues feel like hauling all of these amazing Public Servants in to lecture you on your job and dont feel comfortable to support the citizens of dc to have a right in the voting body. And i find it ironic and i want to also echo and give snaps to my colleague Jasmine Crockett who points in the painted this out, that were here talking about crime while one of our colleagues from across the aisle whos been indicted on 13 criminal counts is not only at large after being bailed out of the new york jail, he is Walking Around this capitol voting and the people of dc do not have representation in these halls. Its outrageous. It is absolutely outrageous. I also find it ironic that weve seen such a dystopian view painted of this city over the last several hours by somebody thats lived in the city, i came here when i was a kid, today i was walking past the Capitol Steps and saw kids on their eighth grade trip and i was thinking about how much this city has transformed over the last several decades. That is because of the policies, madame mayor and you and others sitting here today have put into place. The social programs, universal prek and investment in instrategies structure and this city has literally been Early Intervention program frank siller structure and infrastructure and Early Intervention programs and im proud of the work yall are doing and i want to provide the opportunity because ive heard a lot of outrageous lecturing, a lot of misinformation and the kind of usual partisan chaos that we hear in these hearings to give you some times to talk about things that you care about and things that you feel congress can do to help support the cities and shoes. Thank you for that, congresswoman and having the same reaction. While as mayor, you dont want to see any crime in your city, you definitely dont want to see increase in crime. I know we have the tools that we need to drive it down. While at the same time were doing that, we havent given up on the agenda that advances our city. Earlier in this year we leased our five year Economic Development strategy that is focused on our come back and how we do that. A lot of federal presence in our city and untaxable federal presence in the city and the landscape of the federal leases and buildings is also changing. We have a great example of a partnership right in the center of washington thats helped to invest local dollars in underutilized parks that is now the center of our downtown. Weve done that at the wharf and can do it at walter reed, st. E elizabeth and focus on underutilized elsewhere. Focusing on Early Childhood education and fortunate in new mexico and my home state taking the adviser from the district and create the first universal Child Care Program in the history and based on the dc model and so successful. So i want to thank you for that and more for everything you do for the city. Thank you. Yield back. Its important to remember who caused the Political Violence in dc and the metro police were deployed by dangerous riots and in 2020 where blm rioters rage and even nearly burning down the city and hundreds of Police Officers were injured and rioters destroyed millions in property and riots went to such extreme levels at Lafayette Park and secret service forced President Trump into the white house bunker. It started on President Trumps Inauguration Day and all you hear about is a three hour riot on one single day, january 6, 2021. So lets talk about violent criminals and justice. Chief contee, youve said what weve got to do if we really want to see homicides go down is keep bad guys with guns in jail. When they are in jail, they cant be in communities shooting people. Keep violent people in jail; is that right yes or no . Yes. Thank you. Mayor bowser, do you agree with chief contee, yes or no . Yes. Until people serve their sentence. Yes, you agree. Thank you very much, mayor. Mr. Graves, youre u. S. Attorney of district of columbia and have the unique ability to prosecute both local and federal cases. However, mr. Graves, your office declined to prosecute 67 of those arrested in 2022, which means they cant stay in jail like chief contee is demanding after his Police Officers do the hard work of arresting these criminals. Instead you are solely focused on prosecuting january 6 cases from one single day in our history. Meanwhile dc crime is up. Total crime is up 27 from last year. Carjacking up 114 , murders up 11 , sexual abuse up 45 , property crime is up 30 . Just yesterday morning, a little innocent 12yearold girl was shot while sleeping in her own bed by another rampant violent criminal who has probably been previously arrested and not prosecuted. What do you think a resident in ant cost ya is more afraid of, their child catch ago stray bullet on monday or a grandma walking through the capitol more than two years ago . Mr. Graves, your decision to not prosecute 67 of the crimes in dc is absolutely criminal itself. People who are charged with murder have been arrested only average 11 times before because you refuse to keep them in jail like chief contee is demanding. You have already abused your position by maliciously prosecuting at least 1,000 people from january 6 but you recently announced that youre going to arrest at least 1,000 more. Let me remind everyone the manner in which you go about your january 6 prosecutions. A man named Matthew Perna with no criminal record peacefully entered the capitol through an open door on january 6 and stayed inside roughly 20 minutes. Didnt assault anyone, not a police officer, anyone. He didnt damage any property. He fully cooperated with the fbi and eventually pled guilty to all charges. But right before his sentencing, you, mr. Graves, asked the judge for more time to object to the presentence report by the way while you werent prosecuting many of the crimes in dc. This was so that you could ask for at least a few more years in prison for the guy that walked around in the capitol for 20 minutes not assaulting anyone. This is what youve done repeatedly over and over for those whove pled or have been convicted on january 6. While two weeks later, Matthew Perna hung himself in his garage, mr. Graves. He was 37 years old. On march 9, 2022, you dropped the case against Matthew Perna because he was dead. The time for weaponnizing the department of Justice Needs to come to an end and because you refuse to prosecute real criminals that are violating all the crimes here in washington dc and you want to talk about dc residents, they are victims of your abuse of power and because of that, i am introducing articles of impeachment on you mr. Graves and i yield back the remainder of my time. Gentle lady yields back. I request unanimous consent from georgia and waiving on the committee for purpose of questioning without the objection of the order. Chair recognizes ms. Mace for five years. Thank you, chair and our witnesses for being with us today. Crime is rampant in the nations capitol and rampant and out of control like in other cities and states during covid and crime is up in dc and read that homicides were up by 9 last year and that theres been more homicides in 2023 during the same period of any year for the past decade and starting summer so tourism will be up, Violent Crime consistently peaks from around the country this time of year as well. And at the same time the dc police force is losing a net of 450 officers over the last three years and mayor bowser i want to recognize what you have done to give bonuses and try to hire Police Officers to the force. I myself have been a victim of some crime here in dc twice now since ive come up here and we see this thing around the country and its very important that we address it. We can only leave to the imagination the kind of impression that the rampant crime is up here in dc on the country and folks come here from around the country and the world to see the United States capitol. We have foreign dignitaries and tourists and we want to project strength and peace and safety for folks out here. Dcs out of control crime taken seriously and addressed so my first question goes to mr. Graves and few yes or no questions and do you think the dc Council Crime bill has led to increased officer retention in hiring. Yes or no . Increase officer retention or hiring is the question . Yes. Would it have led to better officer retention and hiring, yes or no . Not sure it would have impacted one way or another. Happening around the neighborhoods and take it here seriously. So we are very much focused on Community Safety and part of the Community Safety do you think yes or no the public should be aware of crime happening in their neighborhoods . Yes. Okay. So you agree, its a good thing when a citizen reporting something they saw, see something Say Something . Yes. Generally want Law Enforcement or our Community Members to report crime of which theyre aware. Right. So a couple of days ago with the dc safety summit, you said going out there and kind of fear mongering and making broad claims are not helpful and i think we unfortunately see that from nontraditional media at times and yes or no, do we have this hearing being fare mongering. Yes or no, is this hearing fear mongering in dc based on your comments from a new days ago . Yes or no . I dont know. To answer your question but its not a yes or no question. It is. I asked it. Yes or no, do you believe its the job of a prosecutor to represent the government and prosecute crimes on its behalf . Yes. Interesting. So then why are you bringing only a third of the cases brought to you. Why is the dc police chief contee literally calling bull hit on excuses for not prosecuting 67 of arrests with fear mongering. So is it fear mongering . Its not fear mongering but youre taking quotes out of context and if i could front pushing vied the context, id be happy. Im not interested and using your words verbatim from you. I want to finish with this with dc in charleston but a city with charm and a city by which Many Americans judge our country and we have a high rate of tourism charleston takes the crime seriously and many want to visit and join just Like Washington dc but the same cannot be said for dc and saddens many of us here today and i want to recognize your efforts for the police force toed a more police, more needs to be done and im sure that you recognize that as well. Thank you and i yield back. Mr. Chairman, is it possible to respond to toughism issues . Go ahead tourism issues . Go ahead. Briefly. Its been mentioned by a few members concern about tourist and tourism is not about fun and games in dc and a real parking lot of the bottom line and real part of the bottom line and welcoming visitors to the city allows us to make investments that were proud of. We are very proud that we are rebounding from precovid with a number of people visiting the district of columbia from around our region and around the country with International Travel is up and we know with better visa management well see even more travelers coming from around the world. Concerned about tourism rising with Business Travel and everybody wants to come and call on the congress about this issue or that. Visiting washington dc to do that as well. Mr. Chairman, sorry. Mayor bowser, good to see you and chief contee, its been awhile. Not back for two years or so. Good to see you. Mr. Donahue, first time. Mr. Graves. You need to do your job. Lets be very clear. Obviously you have a responsibility to the residents of the district. The ways that my colleague talked about that and in some heavy detail there. But if youre not going to do the job of actually standing behind chief contee and the women work to do with the metropolitan Police Department and youre selling them down the river and with them the residents of dc and even the tourist that come to dc. But, you know, theyre the ones that live here. They, you know, they ride the bus, they get on the metro, theyre going to school, theyre going to work and what everybody wants is to be safe. Youre not holding up your end of the bargain. Ive seen mpd all over dc. Theyre out here every single day. Its not they are here. Its very clear when theyre on the scene. But youre not doing your job so i just want to be i find it to be disgusting frankly. Uphold the law, enforce the law and that will make the job easier for the chief and for the mayor to do their jobs. Mayor bowser real quick, you know, you when we were looking when Oversight Committee was investigating january 6, you were not here. I dont know what was going on so no need to go down that road, but i had a question about you requested troops on december you addressed National Guard troops on december 31, 2020; is that correct . That sounds right, but i wouldnt want to confirm the date yet. Thats fine. Thats fine. Based upon any recollection that you have, what was the rational for requesting National Guard troops . We wanted to make sure that our city blocks were protected and the chief decided, dewere in the transition week with the chief decided that we wanted to create a traffic box around certain parts of the downtown and the best use of resources would be National Guard instead of mpd so that mpd could be available for Law Enforcement. That was our request. So quick follow up to that because, you know, i remember it having gone through orientation here before i got sworn in as a member of congress that during that time period, to the pandemic and Everything Else there was no traffic in dc and not like it is today. During that time period and this question was the traffic concern and traffic corridors in the district for the date of januar. Let me ask the chief to talk on this. Thatd be great. Chief said theres traffic boxes and we know were expect ago lot of people in the city and i want to mix people expressing members of the line and street and something to not have or not being hindered by cars moving about and i want to reclaim my time and no disrespect to what youre saying. No disrespect and real quick. In a letter that was sent on january 5, mayor bowser, you state that had the National Guard was accepting the support and you wanted them to be in unarmed capacity and is that correct or, chief contee, can you corroborate that . Yes. Okay. All right. And i thank you for that. Some of the things we just want to clarify and i think heres the overarching point, to be frank, honestly mayor bowser, has not much to do with you. Its a general of point of what happened when and why. I think actually last question for you. When youre requests for National Guard troops were obviously they were answered and you were given whatever you needed, is that correct . We were given, i believe, some of what we requested. Okay. Were there any limits that came from the secretary of the army . Yes. Can anybody stipulate what that was . Yeah, a couple of things so we also first of all the limitation was we could not move their assignments without first receiving approval from the secretary of the army. We could not move National Guard members anywhere east of ninth street northwest. We couldnt move them there. Then another thing we wanted was a Quick Reaction for members of the National Guard to be able to respond and we didnt receive that resource either. Okay. Yes, sir. Last point ill make, mr. Chairman, and im slightly over my time, one thing clear in previous testimony in this excite tee corroborated by the itll today is that troops from National Guard were authorized by the president at the time, donald trump. On january 4. They were authorized and it was testified in the committee they were authorized. Dc was able to taked a vantage of them in the take advantage of them in the capacity for the requests that you wanted. One thing thats important to indicate, mr. Chairman, is that for for National Guard troops to be deployed to the capitol, police board has to issue a state of emergency for troops on Capitol Grounds and police board made up of the architect of the capitol, head of senate security, head of house security and chief of Capitol Police and by my understanding, three of those four people report to the speaker of the house. The speaker of the house at that time was nancy pelosi. When we want to talk about National Guard being here in the timetable of them getting here, its important to understand that there were National Guard in the district of columbia and their limitation of coming to the capitol was not due to anybody else because the president is not authorized to deploy troops to the capitol, separation of powers. It is at the hands of the speaker of the house. With that i yield and apologize for being 1 24 over. Chairman, thank you. Mr. Comer, thank you for your not only meeting with at least republicans before this hearing but expressing your confidence that you believe we could have a thoughtful meeting today with the representatives that would be here with words of confidence that you spoke for the mayor about her job and how this committee could thoughtfully have a conversation today. Its my hope that well have conversation that recognize youve been here a number of hours, each of you and thank you. Some of the points weve heard of people on our side and were republicans and we care about about people in dc and take time to come and walk the streets and talk to people. Well there could be some evidence of that but also my parents for over 20 years lived here and my mother and father engaged washington dc elected officials and i believe tried to provide feedback and they did to my parents and i was apart of those conversations and i would like to say that there is great confidence that we want to have in working with you. I think thats evidenced by you being hear today. Weve had conversation withs the federal government about bringing people back to work. I dont need to go through the facts of the case today, but the bottom line is that the federal government is lagging in our opinion of getting people back to work. Back to work is, i think, not just healthy but we have so many problem withs passports and government with the irs and other agencies and performance of their duties that are necessary to the American People. We have the minority for forward years and had a opportunity when we were in the minority to help with the working craft and your colleagues sometimes led us and did d not share so well and definitely on the side of the speaker of nancy pelosi and those who would be on the committee. Their agenda is virtually our agenda today and we want to make sure that washington dc has a relationship with us whereby we provide feedback and we try and look at things that are done. Together we do recognize were in the city thats hard. We recognize however our beliefs that just like bipartisan piece of legislation that we did where we disagreed with the Dc City Council could not have come at a worse time based on the assault of our members and that created an error of lawlessness in the city and police noticed theyd like to work with you and wed like for you to have an equal knowledge that mareen in its simplest form is addictive problem and youre a member, dc members and your people who are in your police force and others that things are mixed in this with hallucinogens and well keep having with Violent Crime and keep having the positions that you take on allowing marijuana to be openly spoked because it is zeldonly filtrated and easily filtrated and not all by itself an addictive dangerous product. Theres a lot of real problems and were the losers in this. Women and children, women and children get the brunt of this problem and i would like to just face all four of you and say you know it and youll keep being a drug haven, the crime haven and the gun haven if you continue what you have with your approach in the city of washington dc and im very open to allowing you with the engagement and expected to come from the Government Operations subcommittee, the engagement on Public Safety and the safety of women and children. Mr. Chairman, i want to thank you for the time im over my special time. Four of you and people that care about you. I yield back my time. Recognizing mr. Clyde for five minutes. Thank you, chairman comer, for letting me participate and i am thankful for the opportunity. The dc council and i assume it was because he disagreed with several of the soft on crime provisions that the dc council included in the legislation, is that correct . Outline my objections and i also submitted an amendment that would address my objection to the dc council. Okay, thank you. As i recall you stated that i agree with you. Im please that had Congress Passed my resolution hk and misguided bill and im grateful with president bidens information becoming law and i know you did not veto the comply comprehensive justice and Amendment Acted and you did not sign it either. Thats correct. All right. So as i understand it, the Police Reform will call it that and legislation can move forward without your signature. Thats correct. Why did you not sign or veto it . I did not sign it because i knew that we would have to revisit some of those positions with the council. There are ive been mayor eight years and ive vetoed eight bills. So there are people in the legislation and things i agree with and i sometimes will leave my signature off for the council. Okay, thank you. Folks of the city and those of us who actually do vote. Done find it acceptable and take a stand on the piece of legislation and you dont approve it, you dont disapprove and just let it let me finish. So earlier in this hearing, mayor bowser, you said theres no greater supporter of the metro Police Department than you. So by not signing this bill or not vetoing it, you consider yourself the greatest supporter of the metro Police Department. Chief contee, would you agree with that statement that the mayor has not greater supporter this the city than this mayor. Ive been dealing with this mayor for the last eight years and shes a great supporter of the Law Enforcement. Thats a pretty low bar, chief. Now, attorney graves, United States attorney graves, question for you, sir. Representative mace said earlier should communities be made aware of the crime in their neighborhood and you said yes affirmatively. Am i correct . Yes, we believe in that. Great. I agree with you. In 2016 the department of justice provided senator grassley with criminal prosecution data from 20102015. This is the actual letter here. It says in response to your request for the data regarding arrest or offenses of homicide rate, burglary, murder, vehicle theft and arson, theres a request. Will you commit here today to providing the prosecution statistics exactly as you did ir the last seven years 20162020. Im generally familiar with the letter but it was issued at a time when i wasnt in the office. I can tell you what were planning on doing you can do; right . You have the statistics to do it. Are you willing to do it . I want to see the criminal statistics, the prosecution statistics from 20162022. Will you provide it . I understand the question and what were planning on doing. The challenge that our office has historically faced with a lot of data not ready available because of antiquated systems and we had to manually pull the system and ive hired a Data Scientist to more effectively do it and start monthly publishing of the statistics. So youll go back to 2016 through 2022 and provide to the committee. Well do it realtime going forward. Right, fantastic. But will you do it for 20162022. Thats any question to you . Yes or no suffice . Look, these are tradeoffs. If we go back and do this historical analysis by hand, i have to take people away from current prosecutions to do a historical analysis. Im focused on where the numbers are because that informs me on strategy. It also tells us where you are and how successful youve been or what you decide to do or not to do when it cop comes to prosecutions for the committee . Of course we are happy to look into the request to review the letter and pull together. Happy to provide you a copy of the letter. Thank you. And youll provide us specifics. Thank you. Yield back. Feel l free to answer the question. We want to provide any information to the committee and helpful. Thank you, i yield back. That concludes our questioning portion. Now yield to the Ranking Member for brief close remarks. Thank you, chairman. Mayor bowser thank you. Chief contee and attorney graves and donahue and thank so much residents of washington dc that turned out today, and i thank them for their democratic patience as they await approval of their petition for state hood and i see that one of the state hood senators and political selfgovernment in america and state hood is imperative of basic Democratic Values and also of governmental official seizure disorderses and weve heard a lot fors with the department of justice and u. S. Attorneys office and havent heard alabama the dc government and the dc the people of washington dc dont control their own judges and they dont elect judges the way lots of people do in different states and jurisdictions. They dont elect the prosecutors and they have to prosecute felony crime so much of the questioning was about that and thats going to a federal official and without regard to the merits of the complaints, they dont relate to the people of dc but if dc became the state as theyre seeking to do like 37 other states have done, its been admitted since the founding of the republic, theyd be completely responsible. For the crime, prosecution and so on and those things that myomorayty of crimes that are prosecuted by the u. S. Attorney. But this was a hearing about crime then what ive heard from multiple people you shouldnt focus on one city and all the cities and towns and all the states of america and that means that we have to confront gun violence, which is in fact a crime. Yes. If you want to be tough on crime, be tough on gun violence and be soft on gun violence, then soft on crime. Were losing thousands of people every year to the nightmare of gun violence, which is now causing foreign governments to issue travel advisory warnings for people to come to the United States saying that we have a fun violence problem that is dangerous. The state hood petition which congresswoman norton has introduced makes all the sense in the world. It has congress using power under rule 1 section 8 to modify the boundaries of the Federal District and congress did that in 1846 right before the civil war. Apparently according to the historians at behest of slave masters in virginia. They were going to be abolished and they were the person pushing for the abolition of slave traffickers in the district of columbia and the chairmans party, Abraham Lincoln in his single term in the house of representatives and that was the main thing he was doing trying to abolish slavery in the nations capitol and the slave masters of virginia and they feared it. They got congress to retrocede owl of the land and in alexandria, arlington and back to the commonwealth to establish Congress Power to modify the boundaries of the Federal District and if we have the power to do it in the 19th century to protect the slave masters and certainly we have the power to do it in the 21st century and indicate the democratic rights of the people of washington dc. Well work on crime as a National Problem what theyre doing in washington and other state cans learn from dc and things that dc can learn from the other states but crime should never be a opportunity to demonize and vilify a whole population of citizens and leadership and youve led a distinguished team of officials here and acquitted yourself beautifully in explaining all of the great progress thats been happening in washington. Not just on the not just in terms of crime but other Public Policies too. Thank you for coming and thank you once again for rising to the defense of the union and the republic on january 6 and we absolutely need to give the district of Columbia Power over interNational Guard and wed be a lot safer and deploying the National Guard and deploy the metropolitan Police Department three hours before the United States did and more. I yield back. I thank you for being here and it was a substantive Committee Hearing and, mayor, as i said in the earlerer meeting, i pledge to work with you, the majority of this committee wants to work with you. We want to see washington dc grow, prosper and be one of the safest cities on the planet. This committee has a history of republican chairs working with mark meadows and democrat leereds and this excite tee is tasked with jurisdiction over washington dc and we all spend majority of our time in washington dc with our job and obviously a vested interest in the Washington City being here for your service and we appreciate the service of you and your colleagues and we pledge to do whatever we can to help you be successful. Mr. Graves, youve heard criticism from this side out and crime is an issue we campaigned onto flip the house and take the house from democrat majority to republican that jordyty. Were mayorty. Were not satisfied with your Job Performance in washington dc. Weve seen the statistics, weve seen the data. Its just not one of the problems with the crime in america. We have prosecutors who are behind or sympathetic or lazy or maybe dont have the resources to effectively keep up with prosecution and we played the video before in chief issuing a statement with a gaggle of reporters arresting over ten times i believe and led out for unacceptable and uncassioppi semiable in louisville, conduct, and anywhere in america. We hope if theres something this committee can do to help increase the prosecutions in washington dc, let us know. We want to see that happen and, mayor, from listening to the committee and listening to your testimony, i know you said several things that were caught my attention and the taxing of marijuana for example. I didnt know what the law was on that. Were researching that and you have a lot of big issues coming forward, opportunities in washington dc and new arena and that would require some type of legislative assistance, thats something wed pledge to work with you and your office on. Thats something that would be beneficial for the help of keeping criminals in jail and we want to hold criminals accountable for wrong doing and thats going to be a priority for this House Majority not just in washington dc but all over america. Lastly the show up act, which we supported, i was the primary sponsor and we had democrat opposition to this bill but i think mr. Don hay, this would help donahue, this would help the whole city of washington dc and theres a Ripple Effect of businesses that are suffering and i understand commercial real estate occupancy is down. It all pertains to the Business Model in Downtown Washington built around a bunch of federal employees showing umm for work every day. We want to see those federal employees go back to work, mayor. Thats why we pass the show up act and would welcome your active support with senator schumer in the senate. We arkansas we want to see that happen and i look forward to that relationship moving forward. The witnesses will be forward for their response and no further business for the ledge. The congress has a role to play. Congresswoman norton throughout her tenure worked with democrats and republicans that have chaired this committee. Our approach is to work with who we have to work with to get things done for the district. One point that didnt come up and i was struck as i was signature here is that im a mayor. There are things i have to do every day that are not id logical. What we saw here was a id logical back and forth, a partisan kind of mashup. Im sitting here thinking my council right now is voting on my budget that has the real impact on how people in washington dc live every single day. Can you tell us a bit about your meeting with representative comer. Seems like theres some things you may have made headway on. He mentioned it in the Closing Remarks that you spoke to him about taxes marijuana. I guess thats opening the doors to retail sales and sounds like rfk stadium as well. Can you talk a little bit he seemed receptive to helping on that as well. Talk about those issues . I rarely share specifics about private meetings that i have with my members or with the members here, but i will say this, i shared with him how i have worked with previous oversight chairs to include inviting them to local events and mark meadows came to state of the district and to really get to know and understand the residents of the district. I outline in my remashes some ways that i think that they can help. Washington union station, metro transit clips, unused federal land, federal work force transitions. All of those things are important to how the Economic Development strategy of the district unfolds over the next five years. I mention it had here and center creeds maryland it specifically i mentioned it specifically and a lot of members up here talking about whats happen untiling dc and most of them have Legal Marijuana regimes in their states that allow for tax and regulation and that also take away the what can be a dangerous and violent crash only system of marijuana market sales and thats what were experiencing now. Two other republicans met with Congress Member allen and helping you fund a new jail. That could be a positive step. I think thats positive. We have obvious discussed how well transform our jail and we have local funding to do it. Costs keep going up and capitol budgets keep getting tighter and i think a federal appropriation to transform our jail is helpful. The congressman mentioned the importance of bringing our resident who is are mbop closer to home, closer they get to coming home and we couldnt agree with that more. And to be asked questions that they are asking in their own state. It is offensive to think that they would care or know more about crime in d. C. Than we do. We wake up every single day focus on we can keep our city safe. Representative clyde and you didnt get a chance to respond can you respond to that now. Everybody who knows me we have one of the best mayors in the country. She represented our city despite the circumstances in chief of police and any and everything that i ever asked for this award the metropolitan Police Department she has supported that even in the budget to ensure our offices on metropolitan we see pay raises, i been working in the city a bit of part of the Police Department for 30 years, for anybody to suggest this matter is anything other than its quite frankly laughable. Any questions . We are hearing there may be work across the aisle, how did you interpret this from the discussions amongst the republicans. I was surprised. Im willing to accept my time in congress more than three decades, what ive done what ive most often done and get a followup on the. At we ask you a lot about crimes. Though he was at this meeting. Sometimes her tough and sometimes we dont want to talk all the time about it but resident i work for the residents and they have a right to ask me questions and they have a right to know what my strategies are and they also have a right to know that we fallen short in any regard only have a right to know that we need something that we dont have. I havent seen the same willingness among all of our partners and i think that is important. Part of the reason why i called the citywide crime summit last week to give our people the same opportunities that i have on a daily basis to look into cameras to say this is what we have, this is what we need and this is how were going to drive down crime. Part of what we did not discuss is why we think that things were putting in place are going to change the numbers, we cant guarantee there is one magic potion but we know when we look at the policy environment and close the gaps thats going to help. When we know when we send a clear message to officers and potential Police Officers that this is a good place to work that is going to help. We know when we look across the government at the other agencies that are responsible for prevented an opportunity and close any gaps that we see there. The thing that i know about doing this in the chief knows this well. Combination of all those things, we wont always know what it is but will drive down crime. The final thing i want to say, too many neighborhoods and people that are experiencing a lot of crime and i want every neighborhood and to have the experience of the vast majority and after getting up every day going to work and going to school and enjoying a Beautiful Day. Thank you everybody. Thank you