Mayor Bowser, Other DC Leaders Testify to House Committee on Crime

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser testified Tuesday before the House Oversight Committee, along with the police chief and other city leaders, amid mounting concern over crime.

Police Chief Robert Contee, who’s set to depart next month for an FBI job, plus city administrator Kevin Donohue and U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, also spoke at the hearing that started at 10 a.m.

For the most part, the hearing was less confrontational than one held weeks earlier with D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Council member Charles Allen.

The few heated exchanges at Tuesday's hearing weren't focused on crime, but rather on D.C. statehood and the 2020 riots.

In one such exchange, Republican Congressman Clay Higgins suggested D.C. residents had more access to the president and members of Congress because of their proximity.

"Ma'am is there any other municipality in these United States that has access to our seat of government as the citizens of Washington, D.C.?" Higgins asked Bowser.

"Actually, they all have more access because they have voting members of Congress and two senators," Bowser replied, which received applause from D.C. statehood supporters observing the hearing.

Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, at one point questioned Graves about how many 2020 rioters were not prosecuted.

"Attorney Graves, can you confirm that those charges against rioters in the summer of 2020 were dropped?"

"Yes, the office declined a number of arrests that were presented to it under the leadership of the prior administration," Graves said.

But there was evidence of some common ground between House Republicans and D.C. leaders.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., revealed during the hearing that he had a private meeting with Bowser and that he was open to discussing marijuana taxation and regulation as well as options for RFK Stadium.

Two other Republican members of the committee said they met with Allen and came to some agreements on the issue of crime.

"But I do think we have an ability to do some of this and there's some smart things we can do here as we're moving through it because we're willing to spend the money if the money is spent appropriately," said Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-North Dakota).

"We do need more prosecutors. We do," Bowser said.

In written testimony released before the hearing, Bowser said D.C., like other cities, has experienced “some concerning COVID and post-COVID crime trends,” citing illegal guns and carjackings. Violent crimes are up 13% and motor vehicle thefts have more than doubled since this time in 2022, according to Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) data.

Bowser said she has confidence in MPD and aims to fill gaps in public safety in a bill she unveiled Monday, plus make multimillion-dollar investments in police officer recruitment, housing and mental health care services.

"It's offensive to think that they would care or know more about crime in D.C. than we do," Bowser told reporters following the hearing.

But she said a “direct line of accountability” is missing in the “public safety ecosystem,” citing court vacancies and the Department of Justice’s role to prosecute adult crimes in the District.

The U.S. attorney’s office recently acknowledged it doesn’t prosecute about 67% of the people arrested by D.C. police, a topic discussed at a public safety summit last week.

Bowser also called on Congress to reform federal gun laws, fund local infrastructure projects and push federal workers to return to offices downtown.

Her testimony followed a string of shootings, including separate incidents in which a 10-year-old was struck during a barrage of gunfire and a 12-year-old was hit by a stray bullet while in bed.

Crime is a key concern for Republican lawmakers, including Comer, who has pledged that his committee “stands ready to conduct robust oversight of America’s capital city.”

Mendelson and Allen both appeared before the committee in April for a hearing on the city's crime and policing.

Republicans on the committee argued that crime has become a crisis and that the Council is soft on crime.

Mendelson pushed back.

"Let me be clear: People should feel safe, and it is a problem that many residents of the District don't," Mendelson said at the April hearing. "But the number of violent crime incidents in 2022 was 45% lower than a decade earlier. And total violent crime last year was 7% less than the year before. I know this belies the common belief, and when it comes to crime, how people feel is important. But there is not a crime crisis in Washington, D.C."

That hearing ended with the committee passing a measure by voice vote to block the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act, which has been in effect on an emergency basis pending congressional approval since 2022.

The Senate voted in favor of that legislation Tuesday afternoon, but President Joe Biden has indicated he will veto that measure.

Biden signed legislation in March that nullified the D.C. Council's overhaul of the city's criminal code.

In Bowser’s written testimony, she praised D.C.’s fiscal responsibility and ability to address issues under the 1973 Home Rule Act, which also empowers Congress to oversee D.C. laws.

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